The Chairman of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Umunneochi Local Government Area, Hon. Chief Ikechukwu Chikadibia Moses, has strongly rejected allegations linking him to the conduct of the party’s primary election as a returning officer, insisting that he only supervised the exercise as the party Chairman.

Responding to reports accusing him of disrupting the party’s primary election, Chikadibia described the claims as false, politically motivated, and intended to discredit both his leadership and the democratic processes of the party.

The chairman clarified that he was not appointed as the returning officer for the primary election and therefore could not be held responsible for the conduct of the exercise.

According to him, the election was conducted for duly registered members of the party, whose official register in Umunneochi contains 1,086 members.

Chikadibia further alleged that some individuals currently laying claim to influence within the party neither followed established party procedures nor consulted the local party structure before pursuing their political ambitions.

“The party has established structures and procedures. Anyone seeking to pursue an ambition under the platform of the NDC ought to engage with the party leadership and stakeholders at the grassroots. That process was not followed,” he stated.

The chairman also questioned the membership status of some of those involved in the controversy, alleging that certain individuals only recently associated themselves with the party but were already seeking to exert undue influence over its affairs.

According to Chikadibia, some of the persons criticizing the party leadership are not longstanding members of the party and are attempting to create confusion within the NDC.

“They came in recently and immediately sought to dictate the direction of the party. When we resisted those attempts and insisted on due process, they resorted to attacks and misinformation,” he alleged.

The chairman maintained that his only offence was standing firm in defence of the party’s constitution, membership register, and internal democratic processes.

“My sin was refusing to allow the party to be hijacked. I stood for the integrity of the NDC in Umunneochi, and that is why these allegations are being directed at me,” he said.

Chikadibia insisted that the primary election produced winners and that no amount of propaganda, blackmail, or misinformation could invalidate the will of genuine party members who participated in the process.

He further accused those behind the allegations of attempting to sow division among party faithful and destabilize the unity that has been built within the NDC in Umunneochi.

Party stakeholders who spoke in support of the chairman described the allegations as baseless and urged members to remain focused on strengthening the party rather than allowing external interests to create disunity.

The chairman concluded by calling on party members to remain united and committed to the ideals of fairness, discipline, and internal democracy, stressing that the NDC would not be distracted by what he described as politically motivated attacks.

“No amount of lies, blackmail, or propaganda can overturn the will of our members. The party remains united, and we will continue to defend its structures, principles, and democratic processes,” he stated.This version removes all references to other individuals and focuses solely on the response from Hon. Chief Ikechukwu Chikadibia Moses.