The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) internal crisis in Kano has taken on a new dimension as Muhammad Abacha asserts his legitimacy as the party’s legitimate governorship candidate.
A faction of the PDP in the state chose Mr Abacha, the late military dictator Sani Abacha’s son, to be the party’s candidate for governor, while Sadiq Wali was chosen by another faction.
However, the faction that chose Mr Wali was acknowledged by the party’s national leaders.
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INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, told journalists in Kano that the commission monitored the primary conducted by the Sagagi-led state executive that produced Abacha.
He, however, added that before the submission of names, a judgment obtained by Gwarzo’s camp changed the dimension; hence the display of Wali’s name as the candidate of PDP in Kano.
“We monitored the primary election conducted by the Abacha’s led faction, but the PDP presented to the INEC a court judgement which guided our decision to publish the name of Mr Wali as the governorship candidate,” Mr Yakubu told reporters while on an official visit to Kano on Thursday.
“The issue was resolved around the political party and the party is responsible for forwarding the names of the candidate (s) not the INEC” Mr Yakubu added.
Abacha’s Campaign Organisation reacts
According to Mr Abacha’s Campaign Organization, the PDP misled INEC. It argued that the court decision given to INEC had nothing to do with how the state’s primary election was run, Premium Times reports.
”We observed with dismay, an attempt by the national headquarters of PDP to arbitrarily replace the validly returned gubernatorial flag bearer of the party with another candidate, whose emergence through the backdoor was not supervised by INEC as provided by the Electoral Act,” The campaign’s spokesperson, Manniru Mailafiya, said.
“According to Section 84(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, “a political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission, Mr Mailafiya said.
“This directorate has been inundated with calls by our teeming supporters and well-wishers since the news of that publication broke. It is, therefore, pertinent for the campaign office to state in that respect.
“To set the record straight, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Abacha has been duly elected by the constitutionally elected delegates, in a free and fair primary election that was witnessed and certified by the INEC and delegates of our great party.
“In the said election, the INEC REC in Kano, sent his monitoring team as provided by Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022, which he later testified to the public that the PDP primary election, conducted by the Shehu Sagagi-led leadership, which produced Mohammed Abacha as the winner, is the one recognized by them (INEC), and consequently, by law.
“But in their desperate moves to confuse, some elements who do not wish the party well misled the INEC headquarters by presenting a judgment of the Court of Appeal (copy hereby attached), nullifying the national delegates that took part in the PDP presidential primary.
“It is clear to everyone that Mohammed Abacha only participated in the PDP gubernatorial primaries in Kano, whose delegates are different from those that elected the presidential candidate.
“Not minding the repercussion of their daft political subterfuge, which could even lead to putting the candidature of our presidential flag bearer in contention, these political miscreants are deepening instability in the party.
“We, therefore, call on the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, to carefully study the court judgement the commission relied upon to replace Mohammed Abacha with Sadiq Wali – a person who has not even participated in the primary election.
“While calling on our supporters to remain calm, we wish to inform you that our lawyers have already filed a case before the court of law to reclaim our hard-earned mandate,” he said.
Presidential Ambition of Atiku at risk in Kano
A factional governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano, Mohammad Sani Abacha, has said that the presidential ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is at risk with the party’s stance on the crisis in the state’s chapter, Daily Trust reports.
In a statement, Maniru Mailafiya, the spokesman of Abacha’s campaign team, who commented on the brewing crisis of the PDP in Kano said the judgment under reference was a Court of Appeal judgment that overturned a High Court judgment recognising who belonged to the Sagagi faction that represented Kano at the party’s presidential primary.
Kano Guber Candidate, Wali calls for unity
Meanwhile the Kano State Governorship Candidate of the PDP, Sadiq Aminu Wali has called for unity in the video below.
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