The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held its primary on Wednesday at its state secretariat along Okigwe Road in Owerri, the Imo State capital, ahead of the November 11 governorship election.
Off-cycle governorship elections are scheduled for November 11, 2023 in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo states.
According to the PDP’s State Organising Secretary, Lawrence Biado, the National Working Committee’s seven-man electoral commission, led by Kenneth Okon, is in Imo to supervise the primary.
He stated that, despite the fact that the primary is a consensus arrangement with the Party’s National Secretary, with Samuel Anyanwu as the sole contestant, approximately 942 candidates from the state’s 27 local government areas are expected to vote in accordance with the Electoral Act 2022 to confirm that the delegates are in agreement with the consensus arrangement.
A previous governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, and the party’s state chairman, Charles Ugwu, were conspicuously absent. Ihedioha dropped out of the PDP governorship race many weeks ago.
The PDP is set to field a candidate to challenge the reelection of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Hope Uzodimma.
After only seven months in office, the Supreme Court removed Ihedioha as governor of Imo State in January 2020.
The seven-member panel, led by Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad, unanimously declared Uzodimma the winner of the state’s governorship election on March 19, 2019.
The appellant, Uzodimma, claimed that he received the most votes in the election, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chose Ihedioha as the state’s governor.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who determined that the votes owing to Uzodimma were improperly excluded from the 318 polling units and should be added to his votes.
The Supreme Court evaluated the submissions of a key witness who was under subpoena to give results and concluded that the lower court erred in its conclusion.
Justice Kekere-Ekun later pronounced Uzodimma to be the legally elected governor, and INEC rescinded the certificate of return issued to Ihedioha and gave it to Uzodimma.
