Zamfara: PDP, others set to capitalise on APC’s woes
ORDINARILY, the 2019 governorship election in Zamfara State would have been a stroll in the park for the All Progressives Congress (APC). But the disagreement between Governor Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa appears to have robbed the party the opportunity of producing a successor to occupy the seat. At the close of nominations, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared that the party was ineligible to field candidates for governorship, National Assembly and the state House of Assembly elections in Zamfara State because there were no primaries.
The genesis of the crisis is the supremacy battle between governor Yari and Marafa over the governorship ticket. The governor preferred the Commissioner for Finance, Mukhtar Idris, to succeed him instead of Marafa who has been eyeing the job. The commission had informed the ruling APC in a leaked memo that it would not be allowed to field candidates for elective positions in the state in the 2019 general elections; a position it has stood by. The commission’s acting secretary, Okechukwe Ndeche, had in a letter to the APC, said the party was barred from fielding candidates for governorship, National Assembly and the state assembly elections, because the ruling party failed to comply with sections 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act of 2010. Going by the Electoral Act, parties were expected to comply with the timetable and schedule of the INEC, which says that the conduct of primaries must be held between August 18 and October 7.
The commission said reports from its Zamfara office indicated that no primaries were conducted in Zamfara State, notwithstanding that its officials were fully mobilised and deployed. The APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, later responded in a statement that the party had already arrived at a consensus before the deadline. But INEC has refused to budge. Oshiomhole says the party will approach the court to compel INEC to allow the ruling party to field candidates in next year’s general elections. He said: “With all due respect, INEC cannot award a state to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or any other political party. It has to be the decision of the people of Zamfara or any other people in any other state that is going to participate in any of the elections.
“I believe the court will look at the law and the rules, and as far as the legal advice we have gotten is concerned, we believe we are on good grounds. We want to see INEC as an impartial arbiter, and I trust that they will do their very best to maintain their name as an impartial arbiter.” But the expected legal action might be a long wait after all, because legal processes are often not as speedy as expected. This development is expected to mar the campaign of the APC in Zamfara and other political parties are likely to cash in on the situation. The parties are said to be either forming alliances or reaching out to the electorate to push forward their manifestoes for an alternative government in the state. For the PDP, the situation presents a perfect opportunity for the party to take over the state. A former chairman of the party, Senator Hassan Mohammed Gusau, said the party was anchoring its mobilisation on the insecurity situation that had bedeviled the state to woo the electorate to its side. Gusau said the ruling party had approached the PDP to offer them their governorship ticket, but they declined because “this is a no-goarea”.
He, however, said they were into negotiations with the APC and other political parties, but their agreement depends on acceptable conditions. Stormy campaigns loom in Kaduna THAT the governorship election campaigns in Kaduna State will be stormy is to put the matter lightly, Although the primary elections of the various political parties, especialiy those of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the major opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were rancour-free, the issue however coming up ahead of kick-off are pointers to a very stormy campaign. As for the the ruling party, the war within is apparently over with the defections of key rivals of Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, like Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi representing Kaduna North in the National Asssembly, and his counterparts from Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, as well as other actors who fought the governor under the auspices of APC-Akida and the restoration group, led by Alhaji Tijjani Ramalan and Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed respectively.
The eventual exit of the key party men on one hand indicated poor managment of internal crisis on the part of APC. But on the other hand, it is an indication that El-Rufai has control of the party. This gave the governor the advantage of picking the party’s gubernatorial ticket unchallenged, and eventually made the APC’s gubernatorial primary totally free of any form of rancour. The PDP on the other hand has not been that lucky, as about 11 gladiators aspired to be the party’s flagbearer. Despite that, some aspirants stepped down on the eve of the party’s primary due to a consensus arrangement. The consensus agreement allegedly arrived at is now tearing the party apart as one of the aspirants, Dr. Muhammad Sani Bello, has now dumped the PDP for the ruling party. Dr. Bello, at a press conference to announce his exit from the PDP, alleged that, the party had failed to document their consensus agreements; a situation he described as an attempt to shortchange him and other aspirants who went into such agreement. He also hinted that other members of the PDP, including aspirants, will also be dumping the PDP before the general elections. Not only Bello’s exit and those of others who are yet to leave will make the campaigns stormy.
The fact that a former PDP bigwig, aspirant and major finacier in person of Dr. Muhammad Sani Bello has joined the league of people doubting the genuiness of the PDP candidate, Hon. Isha Ashiri’s secondary school certificate is an indication that political war looms. With Bello now with Governor El-Rufai, the APC is likely to make political capital out of the Ashiru’s certificate saga. Already, the former PDP aspirant during the last Saturday’s press conference, has stated categorically that PDP has no chance of winning the election. According to him, “even if the PDP wins the governorship election in Kaduna State, God forbid, the court will nullify the election if any of the parties or candidates challenges it. This is because the credentials of the PDP candidate is faulty. “The WAEC certificate that he presented does not carry his name. His name is Isah Muhammad Ashiru and the certificate reads Muhammad Ashiru. Aside that, in the same WAEC result, he has only two credits in Islamic studies and Economics. Is that the result he used to secure admission into Kaduna Polytechnic and later Bayero University Kano? “So, something is wrong somewhere.” However, the PDP candidate who had been struggling in the past few weeks to defend himself against the certificate saga, has threatened legal action against Dr. Sani Bello if he fails to retract what he (Ashiru) described as defamation of his character.
The PDP on the other hand is well prepared to decampaign Governor El-Rufai over many issues, especially the latest selection by the Governor of his fellow Muslim, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe as running mate. El- Rufai’s explanation over how he arrived at the choice of Hadiza Balarabe not withstanding, the PDP will definitely use that to canvass for support amongst the non-Muslim population in the state. However, the Kaduna electorate will at the end of the day determine who governs them, irrespective of the stormy campaigns that the state may witness. Akwa Ibom AkwaI bom pulses in real time. The fabled ‘Land of Promise’ quivers with the high jinks of frantic aspirants as the executive governor of the state, Emmanuel Udom, goes for broke, in an epic quest to retain his seat, at the 2019 gubernatorial elections.
His major rival, Nsima Ekere, Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is pulling all the stops to unmoor him from his luxuriant couch in the Akwa Ibom State House. But as Ekere gets set to match Udom wit for wit, spunk for spunk, diatribe against diatribe, pundits aver that the battle for the state’s most coveted political office is hardly between the duo. Hide original message Random permutations contend that the contest is between the incumbent governor and his estranged godfather, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who recently dumped the PDP, to pitch his tent with the ruling party, APC. For Udom and Akpabio, the dissembling began in common hours. The colourful fabric of their friendship finally gave to wear and tear of cut-throat politics and unforgiving lust; either man allegedly sought to tame and outclass the other in a fierce struggle for Akwa Ibom’s jugular. Prior to their estrangement, the public had been fed with news of a joyous relationship between godfather and godson, until the Yuletide, when Akpabio accused the governor publicly of neglecting his area, the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District. At a soiree organised for PDP chieftains in his district, Akpabio said it was better to inform the governor that “2018 is less than one year to the election, all is not well…Don’t allow anybody to deceive you that all is well.”
Leave a Reply