A former legislator, Dr Uche Nwole and some stakeholders and members of the Nigeria Democratic Congress ( NDC), Owerri Zone, have cried out over the just-concluded primaries, alleging hijacking of the party structure.

Nwole, who served as a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, representing the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency in Imo State from 1999 to 2003, is a senatorial aspirant in NDC.

At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the aggrieved aspirants alleged that the panel sent from the party’s headquarters to Imo State for the primaries was hijacked on arrival and never showed up at any of the various primary locations across the state, but stayed at the residence of one Martins Agbaso, from where they returned to Abuja.

Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved aspirants, Nwole noted that Imo State was the only state in the country that had not submitted any results to the National headquarters.

According to Nwole, despite the fact that the panel sent from Abuja was hijacked, the party’s officials in the State conducted the primaries and submitted their results, but they were thrown away.

He said that the aggrieved aspirants have written a petition, which they didn’t have access to the party leaders for submission, hence the need to use the media to vent their grievances.

Nwole and his fellow aspirants are now demanding to know ” if the party structure in Imo State had been sold to Mr Martins Agbaso as he claims on viral social media posts”

” Our prayers are for the panel to know that there was no conduct of primary election in Imo state by the panel sent to Imo, except the primaries conducted by the LGA Chairmen and their executives as instructed by the Chairmen of the panel at the party Secretariat before their adoption by Mr Martins Agbaso.

In the petition made available to newsmen, the aspirants want, ” The Panel to disregard the purported and or forged results of the primaries paraded by the electoral panel, as there was never an election by them.

” The party leaders are advised to evaluate the aspirants, consider financial capacity, experiences, and personal capacity to face the Imo APC government headed by the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum”.