The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Anambra state chapter is currently engulfed in crisis over allegations that theft of campaign funds led to the defeat the party suffered in the November 6 governorship election.
Vanguard gathered that some chieftains of the party in the state have written to the national leadership of the party, seeking the constitution of a high-powered investigative panel to review and audit the PDP campaign accounts and activities in the Anambra election.
The stakeholders under the aegis of Concerned Stakeholders of PDP is urging the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP to among other things “investigate the truth or otherwise in the allegation that the party’s candidate and key members of his campaign team had become richer after the elections.”
The petition, signed by the coordinator of the group and founding member of the party in Anambra, Chief P.U Offorkansi and addressed to the Acting National Chairman of the party, Elder Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, stressed that the PDP lost the election because certain individuals hijacked the campaign for their selfish reasons.
The petition reads in parts, “It is an open secret that relevant stakeholders of the party were sidelined in the election, but what is now news was that PDP didn’t have enough fund to provide logistics in the said election.
“One cannot but begin to wonder how possible it was that PDP lacked the financial muscle required for the election.
“Is it that the gubernatorial candidate did not have a war chest or that he was not convinced that he could win the election and so decided to save money instead?
“Is it possible that the PDP governors and leaders did not give financial support to the party and its candidate in the Anambra election? Has it become a trade to just emerge PDP gubernatorial candidate in Anambra State?
“Is there any truth in the rumours making round the state that both the PDP gubernatorial candidate and the managers of the campaign council have become richer after loosing the election?
“How come that the PDP state chairman, state officers, Director General, directors and officials of the campaign council all lost in their respective wards in the election?
“The time for postmortem is now. We need to understand what really transpired; how much donations were realized; what was spent and who is keeping what monies meant for the election.”
They further noted that “there must be an end to people scrambling to become either the candidate or managers of campaign councils of PDP in Anambra State just for money. We just lost what would have been the easiest election for PDP to win in Anambra State. Are we going to sit back and watch the same fate befall our party again in 2023? People must be held accountable to serve as a deterrent.
“Accordingly, we the Concerned Stakeholders of PDP do most respectfully urge the NWC of our great party to constitute a high-powered investigation panel to review and audit the PDP campaign accounts and activities in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Anambra State”, the petition further read.
