September 29, (THEWILL) – The new chairman of the Cross River state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Venatius Ikem has pledged to end imposition in the party.
He made the pledge at the party’s state secretariat after his swearing in as the party’s chairman.
Ikem said: “We will do everything to further democratize the processes of the party so that it will never be heard that a candidate was imposed on the party.
“The PDP as the name implies cannot be called a democratic party if candidates are imposed.
“If we democratize our processes, we will easily win elections and that is the pledge I am making to the party”, he said.
He appealed to the new executive and the elders of the party to encourage free and fair elections.
Speaking during the swearing in, former governor of the state and member of the board of trustees, Donald Duke, commended the outgone caretaker committee for doing a good job.
He said the party has never been in opposition and likened the recent defections from the party to an agent who steals the property of the principal.
“The mandate was given to the PDP and the offices – governor, senator and house of reps are only agents of the party so what you have is where an agent steals the property of the principal”, he said.
He tasked the new executive to be exceedingly transparent in their dealings.
He maintained that the only way to keep the party together and avoid acrimony is through transparency and warned elders of the party not to middle the waters by imposing candidates as they cannot afford that luxury.
He equally tasked the new leadership to ensure they maintain a presence in the 196 wards of the state.
Also speaking, the outgone caretaker committee chairman, Efiok Cobham said the march to reclaim the state in 2023 has commenced.
He said the party is stronger and more determined than ever with the calibre of the new executives.
He also said a lot of their activities are anchored around aspirations and if the party is not strong it cannot manage aspirations.
He tasked the new leadership to manage aspirations with fairness and avoid mistakes made in the past.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
