Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Thursday, said that aside from the National Convention of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holding in Port Harcourt on Saturday, May 21, 2016, it is unaware of another convention of the party.

  PDP INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said this in Abuja. This has however, discredited the parallel convention being planned by the PDP Concerned Stakeholders group led by former Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana. Osaze-Uzzi said that contrary to media reports that two parallel conventions of PDP would hold in Abuja and Port Harcourt same day, there was only one PDP known to INEC, which had conducted congresses at all levels.

 His words: “There is only one PDP known to INEC, which has been holding congresses at the ward, local government, state and zonal levels. There is only one convention known to the laws and regulations of INEC for which we were given appropriate notice and that is the one in Port Harcourt.” Osaze-Uzzi said that the commission would monitor elections to all offices at the Port Harcourt convention, noting that “expect that of National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor following a court order of which INEC has been served’’.

 “As a law abiding institution, INEC is not going to monitor elections into these three positions because of the court order, except where there is contrary court order before Saturday. “But, for every other remaining position, we are going to monitor,” he said. A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had stopped the PDP from electing anyone into offices of national chairman, national secretary and national auditor of the party at the Saturday convention. The court restrained INEC from monitoring and or recognizing the conduct of any election into the affected offices pending the hearing and determination of a substantive suit on it.