Rivers PDP: Apsirants protest in Port Harcourt over non-issuance of nomination forms

Some aspirants, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, on Wednesday, staged a protest at the Party’s secretariat on Aba road, Port Harcourt over alleged failure to issue them with nomination forms.

The protesters, who were mainly aspirants for the State House of Assembly seats, were at the State secretariat of the PDP with their receipts of payment for party nomination forms.

One of the protesters, Isreal Agbasi, who spoke on behalf of others, said they were asked to pick their forms at the State party secretariat after making payment at the national party office in Abuja, but to their surprise, those responsible for the issuance of forms “were nowhere to be found”.

He said they were not aware of “any consensus candidate” for any elective position.

The aspirants described the action of the Party’s State executive as an act “against the democratic principles”.

The aspirants threatened to take necessary legal action to ensure that their rights were not infringed upon.

Another protester threatened that, “if they don’t give forms to us, the party in Rivers State will not have candidates.

“Remember what happened to the APC in 2019”.

Reacting to the claims by the protesters, one Joy Oyaghiri Fagbemi, who claimed to be speaking for the office responsible for the issuance of the forms, explained that only those who paid for the nomination forms at the Port Harcourt office are issued with forms in Port Harcourt.

Fagbemi claimed that the aspirants “may have misunderstood the process”.