PDP Abia State gubernatorial hopeful, Mr Eric Opah, has asked party delegates to ensure that they vote only for persons in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2022.

Candidates file out on 4 February for the rerun primary to elect a flagbearer of the PDP to replace the deceased Prof Uchenna Eleazar Ikonne who died on 25 January 2023 from heart-related complications.

The rerun intraparty election complies with the Electoral Act 2022, which stipulates the replacement of a deceased within 14 days.

In a statement by the Director of Mobilisation and Engagement, Mr Chis Nwoko, the Eric Opah Campaign Organisation urged the party’s electoral body and delegates to be scrupulous in ensuring full compliance with the requirements by all concerned to save the party blushes later.

“We note that the governor's political appointees are on the contestants' list. It is critical to ensure they have followed the Electoral Act on resignation from their exalted offices before submitting their papers for participation in this electoral process. We must save our party from embarrassment if other parties challenge their legitimacy or compliance.

“Any resignation after 4 January 2023 is invalid for this election. We are the dominant party and stand a good chance to win, but we should do everything properly to avoid gifting our eventual victory to our opponents.”

Extant legal provisions stipulate that political appointees and public officers must resign 30 days before entering the electoral process.

Buttressing its advocacy, the Eric Opah Campaign pointed to the recent case in Benue State where the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal disqualified Ms Aida Ogwuche because she did not resign her appointment from the Federal Inland Revenue Service before entering the electoral process. The court ruled that Ogwuche “ought to have resigned her employment from the service before contesting in the primary election of the PDP”.

The Eric Opah Campaign also appealed to the party to sidestep the trap inherent in the deployment of the previous three-man ad-hoc delegates across the 184 wards in Abia State that fetched it legal disputes last year. The Opah Campaign advocated the election of fresh delegates for the party’s congress on 4 February.

The PDP national executive committee cleared Eric Opah on February 2 among candidates to contest the rerun primary today, Saturday, February 4.

Eric Opah, an entrepreneur, is running on the plank of a fresh vision for the PDP to provide new directions, philosophy, and practices. He hails from Mbubo Nsulu, the same Nsulu as the late Prof Ikonne, who was from Agburuike Nsulu.