Thirteen candidates for the chairmanship of the Kogi State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party rejected the state’s consensus choice for the position on Tuesday, bringing the conflict inside the chapter to a breaking point.

Mr. Enemona Anyebe was the unanimous choice to be the state’s PDP chairman, according to a committee made up of previous governors and party officials.

The spokesperson for the Kogi State PDP chairmanship candidates, Aruwa Ismaila, said at a press conference in Lokoja on Tuesday that Anyebe’s alleged endorsement as the party’s consensus nominee for the state chairmanship was patently false and the product of their sponsors’ imaginations.

Ismaila said, “It has therefore become imperative to issue this rebuttal so that the unsuspecting public and particularly our PDP supporters and members are not misled, misguided and sold a dummy.

“We rejected outrightly, especially on the issue of the elders going outside their mandate to source for and nominate one Mr Anyebe from Olamaboro as consensus candidate at the scantly attended meeting of Kogi East critical stakeholders held at Lokoja on Monday, 29 April 2024, when the Elders Review Report on zoning was presented on their behalf.

“We the chairmanship aspirants spoke through our spokesperson Mr. Ismaila Aruwa, at the meeting and advocated for outright rejection of the Review report which even fell far short of the initial Zoning committee report led by Hon. Tom Zakari. Our position has not changed.

“We hereby profoundly and vehemently reject the Elder Review Committee Report. It should be noted that at no time between 29th April to 1st May 2024 was any meeting held to the knowledge and or in consultation with us the aspirants to solicit our views and or our input on the zoning issues.

“We the aspirant have not delegated our position to any elder to canvass for on our behalf nor are we ready to do so going forward. A consensus candidate can only be arrived at by all 13 aspirants discussing and agreeing with each other and not the elders.”

The spokesman claims that no mechanism has been established or activated among the 13 candidates to determine a consensus candidate by the PDP leadership in Kogi State, which is led by Senators Danjuma La’ah as Chairman and Philip Gyunka as Secretary.

“The purported endorsement of Mr Enemona Anyebe the party consensus candidate is an affront to the Kogi State PDP leadership and a benign attempt to overreach their mandate and authority and such is hereby outrightly rejected.

“On the issue of the so-called Mr Enmona Anyebe who never showed interest in the contest for state chairmanship, and did not participate in the screening and personal presentation processes before the zoning committee in Lokoja on January 20, 2024, his purported candidature is dead on arrival.”