[FILES] PDP Chairman, Secondus. Photo: TWITTER/UcheSecondus
A coalition of politicians under the aegis of Yerwa-Oodua PDP support group has lamented that Peoples Democratic Party in Borno State does not have valid candidates for the 2019 governorship and Borno Central Senatorial election.
While addressing a press conference at Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, the group, said they comprise “hundreds of PDP members from Borno State who live in Southwestern states of Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States.”
Chairman of the group, Bakura Goni Makinta and his secretary, Mustapha Mustapha, who spoke in English and Hausa respectively at the end of their three-day 26th quarterly stakeholders meeting, said unless the Independent National Electoral Commission (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 PDP candidate for Borno Central Senatorial election, candidates of the other parties would go into next year’s elections unopposed.
They contended that while some PDP members recall what happened in 2011, when an incumbent opposition ANPP governor lost Borno Central Senatorial election to PDP, they forget that then PDP had the advantage of Mohammed Goni as its governorship candidate, whose popularity influenced outcomes of the National Assembly elections.
While noting that APC currently has popular candidates besides the advantage of President Muhammadu Buhari, they declared: “Ahead of the 2019 general election, the PDP in Borno State currently has no validly nominated candidates, especially for the governorship and Borno Central Senatorial election, until ongoing court appeal cases between the two factions of the party are determined in the weeks to come.
“Not withstanding publication of the names of Alhaji Mohammed Imam for the governorship and Senator Mohammed Abba Aji for 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 had two months ago delivered judgment clearly recognising that the valid state executives of PDP in Borno State are those under Alhaji Usman Baderi as state chairman. That judgment was well reported by journalists in Borno State.”
Yerwa-Odua support group disclosed that “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, noting that the PDP state secretariat near Sir Kashim Shettima way in Maiduguri is under the use of Alhaji Usman Baderi while the illegal chairman, Gaddama operates from a private residence.
“Based on its lawful recognition by the Federal High Court in Maiduguri, PDP state executives under Baderi’s leadership have since held credible primary elections that produced Wakil, as PDP governorship candidate in Borno State and a former speaker in Borno State House of Assembly, Alhaji Bukar Kachallah as PDP candidate for Borno Central Senatorial election.
“We are very optimistic that very soon, the court will in reaffirming it’s earlier judgment, give an order to INEC to uphold the names of Wakil as our governorship and Bukar Kachallah for the Borno Central Senatorial election as our candidates elected from lawful primary elections.”
However, the group regretted that PDP has no chance ahead for the governorship and the Senate because “Alhaji Mohammed Imam does not have the pedigree to challenge 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.”
The group noted that in Borno today, all APC candidates have the open endorsement of Buhari, who they said enjoys immense popularity in the state.
