BY CHINENYEH OZOR

Nsukka—AS the November 2013 local government election approaches in Enugu State, over 500 youths of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu North senatorial district, yesterday, took to the streets of Nsukka, to protest imposition of candidates.

According to the youths, such impositions are contrary to democratic principles.

The first port of call of the youths was Nsukka local government secretariat where they were addressed by Paulinus Eze, Personal Assistant to the local government chairman on projects.

Eze told the protesters that they were at a wrong place and advised them to channel their grievances to the state PDP chairman at the party secretariat as the issue was a party matter.

He commended the youths for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves.
At the party secretariat, the youths brought activities to a halt, compelling chairman of PDP in the local government area, Chief Alpho.Nweze, to abandon urgent party matters to attend to them.

The protesters chanted derogatory songs against Chief Nweze, accusing him of imposing candidates on the party.

Spokesperson of the protesting youths, Ezeagbo Ikenna, urged the party to provide a level playing ground for all contestants.

Ikenna said: “As youths and future leaders, we refuse to align ourselves with persons whose unbridled inclination to political sycophancy and bigotry know no bounds.”

The youths, therefore, called for free and fair election in November, assuring that they would continue to work assiduously to achieve hitch free election.

However, Nweze denied the allegation, saying no single PDP official could return a candidate unopposed.

According to him, the PDP is a family where stakeholders are consulted before decisions are made.

He said PDP had the capacity to handle its internal crisis.