Presidential aspirant threatens legal action against PDP over Atiku’s emergence

A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential aspirant, Stanley Osifo, on Tuesday threatened to drag the party to court if it fails to address issues surrounding the emergence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.

Osifo described the emergence of the Waziri of Adamawa as an imposition.

Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, Osifo said the PDP’s national convention in Port Harcourt, the River State capital, was null and void because it did not follow laid down rules and regulations of the party.

He stated that he was denied participation in the exercise despite having obtained the necessary documents and fulfilled the requirement to enable him take part in the said convention.

According to Osifo, “I, therefore, call on the party to address this germane issue in the next 48 hours, failure which, we will proceed to court to seek redress. Therefore, the primary that produced the party’s presidential candidate is null and void.

“I have written two letters to the party and the chairman on the matter. But my complaint was not taken seriously and we would not relent until we get justice because we will continue to pursue the matter.”

The former presidential aspirant said his alleged sidelining was “the height of impunity in the party,” saying the party should not have deemed it fit to collect from him money for expression of interest form, among others if it did not want him to participate in the exercise.

“There is no doubt; this is the height of impunity in the party. Before I decided to participate in the election, I met and discussed with the party leadership. As such, I obtained the form to enable me participate.

“Incidentally, when the party was meeting the aspirants to have discussion on primaries, I was never invited and only got to know about the development in the media. It is instructive to note that if the party did not want me to participate, why should it collect the money I paid for expression of interest to contest forms?” he queried.

The PDP stalwart, however, said the complaints he made that the impunity and injustice done to him be addressed by the party were yet to be responded to adequately.

While stating that nobody was using him to scuttle the efforts of the party, Osifo stressed that he was protesting on the ground that he equally had the same rights to contest as a party member.

“I have addressed the same allegation in the past alleging that I am a mole in the party. I must make it clear again that nobody can use me to derail the PDP. I believe in the cohesiveness of the party, but it is not laying good example,” he said.