By Ezra Ukanwa 

NATIONAL Youth Movement of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday, called for the substitution of the gubernatorial candidate in Abia state, Professor Uche Ikonne, on grounds that he can not effectively represent the party given his poor health. 

The group explained that with the heat of campaign activities across the country, including Abia State, and the defection of one of its major members and presidential candidate of Labor Party, LP, Peter Obi, the Party must then upscale its activities and ensure that all flag bearers of the parties are actively representing the party.  

The National President, PDP NYM, Salahudeen Lukman, who spoke on behalf of the group, made this call at a press briefing, with the theme: ‘PDP Victory in 2023 general elections: Our concern with Abia State as case study”, on Monday, in Abuja. 

He said the call for immediate action by the party’s national leadership was informed by the quarterly report of the group’s election campaign monitoring committee which revealed weakness in Abia state as a result of the health condition of the guber candidate. 

He advised the national leaders of PDP to as a matter of urgency approach a court of competent jurisdiction to invoke the doctrine of necessity to enable substitution/replacement as all windows available for official substitution in the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, are closed.  

He said: “The quarterly report of our Election Campaign Monitoring Committee of our Movement headed by National Director of Planning and Strategy from Abia State , South East Nigeria reveals this subject matter, presented to us as a case study today, hence our open call for immediate action by our party National Leadership and all well meaning stakeholders of the PDP in the South East and most critical, Abia State.

“It’s no longer news that the defection of Mr Peter Obi from our great party PDP to become the Presidential standard bearer of Labour Party has significantly threatened our usual bloc votes from the South East. It therefore means that the little stronghold we have in the South East such as Abia and Enugu states, must be managed and protected. 

“This synopsis has informed our decision to make an open call for an expedited action on the Abia State matter, by our party leadership both at the state and national levels.

“The fact that we had exhausted all the windows available for official substitution according to INEC’s Time Table, informed the need for collaborative effort of the party at National, and Abia state, to approach a court of competent jurisdiction to invoke the doctrine of necessity to enable substitution/replacement, as neither the Electoral Act 2022 as amended nor the Constitution of the FRN made clear provision for this kind of situation where a candidate became incapacitated on health ground some weeks to election.

“The credible alternative before our party remains the substitution of Runner up of the PDP Abia State Gubernatorial Primary Election as consensus candidate to replace the ailing Prof Uchenna Ikonne.

“This became very sacrosanct and imperatively important to enable the good people of Abia and PDP members in Abia state continue to stand with our great party.

“The essence of this call for immediate action, boils down to the need for victory of the PDP in Abia state and Nigeria come 2023 hence our humble call for immediate action.”