PDP Borno Group Disowns Party’s Governorship Candidate

The Peoples Democratic Party in Borno State has no valid candidates for the 2019 Governorship and Borno Central senatorial election, a coalition, Yerwa-Oodua PDP support group declared at a press conference held on Sunday at the Sheraton hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.

The group, with headquarters in Ijora, is “the coming together of hundreds of PDP members from Borno State who live in Southwestern states of Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States” spoke at the end of its 26th quarterly stakeholders meeting which began on Friday and ended at the weekend in Lagos.

Chairman of the group, Bakura Goni Makinta and his secretary, Mustapha Mustapha, who spoke in English and hausa, said unless the INEC adopts the former Minister of state for power, Mohammed Wakil as PDP governorship candidate as well as a former speaker of the state assembly, Bukar Kachallah as the PDP candidate for Borno Central senatorial election, as the situation stands, candidates of the PDP under will go into the 2019 elections unopposed.

They added that whereas some PDP members were making reference to 2011 in which an incumbent Governor lost the Borno Central senatorial election to PDP, they ignore the fact that back in 2011, the PDP had the advantage of Mohammed Goni as its governorship candidate whose popularity influenced outcomes of the National assembly elections and in addition, the APC currently has popular candidates besides the advantage of a President Muhammadu Buhari who was in the CPC as at 2011 when an incumbent Governor lost the Senate to the PDP.

“Ahead of the 2019 general election, the PDP in Borno State does currently has no valid candidates particularly for the Governorship and Borno Central senatorial election until ongoing court appeal cases between the two factions of the party are determined in weeks to come. Not withstanding publication of the names of Alhaji Mohammed Imam for the governorship and Senator Mohammed Abba Aji for the Borno Central senatorial election by the INEC, the two persons are not valid candidates because their primaries were conducted by an unlawful state executive committee under the so called chairmanship of Alhaji Zannah Gaddama whereas a federal high court in Maiduguri has two months ago delivered a judgment clearly recognising that the valid State executives of the PDP in Borno State are those under Alhaji Usman Baderi as state chairman. That judgment was well reported by journalists in Borno State”.

The group said the federal high court judgment still subsists because there is so far no order by any court of competent jurisdiction setting aside that federal high court judgment citing that the PDP state secretariat near Sir Kashim Shettima way in Maiduguri is under the use of Alhaji Usman Baderi while the illegal chairman, Zanna Gaddama operates from a private residence.

Speaking further, the group noted that the PDP has no chance ahead of the governorship and the Senate because “Alhaji Mohammed Imam does not have the pedigree to challenge the APC governorship candidate who is a very popular Professor with known records of deep involvement in the rebuilding of many communities destroyed by Boko Haram in about 20 local government areas of Borno State. In Borno today, no serious electorate with voters card pays attention to the candidature of Mohammed Imam. On the contrary, the valid PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Mohammed Wakil, a one time majority leader in the house of Representatives and former Minister is known to have records that good enough to make the PDP emerge victorious in the 2019 Governorship election”.

Yerwa-Oodua PDP support group added that “In the case of the Borno Central senatorial election, the current illegal Mohammed Abba Aji has lost the respect of all electorates due to his numerous defections from one party to another. At the last count, Abba Aji has defected from ANPP to PDP back to APC and PDP within few years. In fact Senator Abba Aji who was benefited so much from the PDP government of President Olusegun and Goodluck Jonathan abandoned the PDP in October, 2015 when the PDP lost election to the APC. After failing to secure the governorship ticket in the APC barely two months ago, he again defected into the PDP to impose himself as senatorial candidate.

The group concluded that “the PDP in Borno State must therefore admit that at the situation stands, APC candidates are contesting unopposed unless we do everything possible to accelerate our case and get the court to oder to INEC to uphold candidates from primary elections conducted by the lawful state executives of the PDP under our legitimate state chairman, Alhaji Usman Baderi”.

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