Anselm Ojezua, one of the aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Edo governorship aspirants, says last weekend’s ward congress in the state was not free and fair.

Mr Ojezua said during an interview with journalists in Abuja on Friday that only two officials conducted the election in 192 wards.

He described the exercise as a mockery of the party’s regulations and processes, adding that only two officers signed the result sheets in all 102 wards.

Mr Ojezua said nine out of the 10 aspirants were excluded from the exercise and only saw the result sheets when they arrived in Abuja to appeal against the process.

He said the sheets were signed by the chairman of the ward congress committee, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State and the committee secretary.

“What I find more disturbing is that the chairman came in midway through the exercise and went to two locations.

“It was when he came that he made a call to the deputy governor, who is one of the aspirants, informing him that he had just arrived and would love to meet with the aspirants.

“He said he was waiting for his counterpart and that as soon as he arrived, he would inform us.

“We waited, and the next day, at about 4:00 p.m. or thereabout, we saw him on television saying that he had been to two locations and that the process was free and fair,“ he said.

Mr Ojezua, who moved from the APC to the PDP with Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, alleged that the entire process of the ward congress was fraught with irregularities and even illegalities.

“All the result sheets were not signed by the electoral officers. Not one of them. All of them were signed by Mr Mbah and the committee secretary, ” he said.

At the end of the exercise, Mr Mbah insisted that the exercise followed due process and was, therefore, free and fair.

He told journalists that he was satisfied with the conduct of the exercise and the turnout of voters.

(NAN)