From TAIWO AMODU, Abuja
The cold war between the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee, (NWC) and its governorship candidate in the last November election, Tony Nwoye, took a  dramatic twist at the weekend, as the party finally resolved to support Nwoye’s stance over the outcome of the election.
Nwoye had in a joint press briefing last month with Chris Ngige and Ifeanyi Uba, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party governorship candidates rejected the outcome of the election in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Willie Obiano, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate as winner of the governorship election in the state.
The PDP candidate also resolved to challenge the outcome of the election at the election petition tribunal.
Apparently miffed by the eagerness of the PDP NWC to congratulate the APGA candidate without consultations with his campaign office, Tony Nwoye had accused the Bamanga Tukur-led national working committee of acting in bad faith.
But in a dramatic volte-face, yesterday, the party national leadership said it was in total support of the suit filed by its candidate, in the November 16, 2013 Anambra governorship election, Tony Nwoye challenging the result of the poll.
It described the action of the candidate as a step in the right direction and an acceptance of the directive of the NWC earlier communicated to him to pursue the mandate in accordance with established democratic procedures and rules.
“The PDP is totally committed to democracy and electoral processes as stipulated by the constitution and laws of our land.
This explains why we remained steadfast to the processes outlined for the Anambra governorship election and the reason for our earlier stand and directive to our candidate and members to participate in the supplementary election as directed by INEC.
“As a party committed to strengthening the institution of democracy, we believe that due process must be followed at all times to allow the laws and electoral rules run their full courses without any interruption. It is in this regard that we commend our candidate for conforming with the ideals of our party in seeking redress at the right time and through the appropriate democratic channel,”  the statement said. Expressing optimism that justice would prevail at the end of the day, the statement said the PDP was impressed by Nwoye’s credible outing, resilience and grassroots appeal which brought him to the forefront in the race despite having only two weeks to campaign.
It therefore admonished all PDP members to close ranks and remained focused in supporting the party and its candidate.

Source: Sun