A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi State Elder Fred Udeogu has warned the ruling All Progressive Congress, in the state to stop forcing and giving money to citizens to register in their party.

Elder Udeogu made this known while speaking with journalists in Abakaliki on Thursday.

He alleged that the APC was bribing residents of the state to register with the party in the ongoing revalidation exercise.

“Is there anybody registering with APC in Ebonyi? Nobody is registering with them (APC). Moving around you see what is happening there. They are forcefully trying to get PVS’s from individuals and in some cases, they give money to people so that they collect their PVS’s from them.

“We have advised our people not to release their PVS’s to anybody because that is their personal properties. And again, they are equally trying to intimidate civil servants into registering with them (APC). We have told our people to be mindful of them and that nobody should coerce them into releasing their PVS’s he said.

But in a swift reaction, the publicity secretary of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Ebonyi State chapter Mr. Ogbuatu Simbad denied the allegation, demanding pictorial evidence of the alleged bribing of residents to register with the APC.

“Let them show us the pictorial evidence on where we are giving money or forcing people to register with APC.

“Ebonyians are still registering with us and they are freely supporting the movement of the governor David Umahi into APC.

“Despite that, the PDP is circulating fake news that if anybody registers with the APC, we will kill the person but people are ignoring that and they are supporting the progressive family” he stated.

Elder Udeogu in another development insisted that he will not accept the federal high court ruling that allegedly dissolved his PDP caretaker committee which was appointed by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP.

“The Federal High court sitting in Abakaliki passed their ruling against us, and we knew it was going to be so because of what they are doing. The way the case was handled, we weren’t comfortable.

“We actually did not accept the ruling and our legal team have already proceeded on appeal because I did not accept the judgement. So, I will follow it up until justice is done.

He further called on the genuine members of the PDP in Ebonyi State to remain committed and be resolute to their beliefs.

“I advise the entire genuine PDP family members of Ebonyi State to remain steadfast and be assured that the judgement will most likely be upturned by the appeal Court. We will follow this matter to a logical conclusion. And so, PDP supporters should remain calm because we are not relenting. And I can assure all PDP supporters that we will not disappoint them at the end of the day.

The party chieftain, however, said the factional chairman of PDP in Ebonyi State, Mr. Onyekachi Nwaebonyi was not a member of the party “Onyekachi Nwaebonyi is not a PDP member and that is the truth. No matter what happens, he is not a PDP member for today, and that will be proved. He is not working with our national assembly members, this national assembly members are our leaders, they have outgrown some pettiness.

He further challenged the Ebonyi State government over a comment credited to Governor Umahi, where he allegedly vowed to convert the entire South-East zone to the APC.

“Until then, we will know how governor Umahi will turn everybody to become APC, whether he has such capacities. If he can turn a man into a woman, we will know. If he can’t turn Ebonyi, how can he turn the entire south-east? He is the governor, he is entitled to his opinions. But let us know the extent he (Umahi) will go.

DailyPost