How Kebbi PDP failed to produce guber candidate
week after several states have got a clear confirmation of who would be contesting for their governorship seats, the ruling party in Kebbi State is yet to present its candidate for the top post. The inability of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to conduct governorship primary poll acceptable to its aspirants in the state has thrown the party into a deep crisis. Two attempts to elect a candidate have failed to produce one. And one of the 12 aspirants, General SarkinYaki Bello (rtd), has since declared himself as the party’s candidate but the 11 other aspirants have dismissed him as a pretender.
Signs that the ruling party was heading for crisis began to emerge ahead of the primary. Many aspirants indicated their interest for the party’s ticket with no signs for a compromise. The trouble deepened on December 11 when officials from the national secretariat of the party and the local leadership of the party began to conduct the primary poll at Haliru Abdu Stadium in the state capital.
The congress, organised by the national headquarters of the party and chaired by deposed Rivers State governor Celestine Omehia, was attended by Governor Sa’idu Dakingari, Minister for Special Duties Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, the National Treasurer of the PDP Alhaji Buhari Bala, the acting state chairman of the party Alhaji Bello Doya and all the 12 aspirants.
But midway into the congress, after delegates from nine out of the 21 local government areas in the state had already cast their votes, five of the aspirants, including Deputy Governor Ibrahim Aliyu and Senator Muhammadu Magoro, protested against the conduct of the election and demanded for its immediate cancellation.
The chairman and the key officials of the congress agreed with them. It was cancelled and re-scheduled for a date to be announced by the national secretariat of the party. But while this was happening, one of the aspirants, retired General Sarkin-Yaki Bello, who was earlier seen at the congress, made a quick move and announced that another election was held in the state capital where he was elected as the candidate.
Supporters of the former chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Mansir Shehu, who is also an aspirant, claimed that he was leading at the officially recognised congress when it was cancelled.
All the aspirants rejected General Bello’s self-declaration and waited for the national secretariat to organise the re-scheduled primaries.
But when the re-scheduled congress was about to be held, General Bello again announced himself as the winner. The other aspirants rejected his claim again.
Efforts by Daily Trust correspondent to speak to him directly were unsuccessful but his supporters insisted that in both congresses held he was legitimately elected as the party’s candidate.
As at the time of filing this report, neither the state chapter of the party nor the national headquarters has announced anyone as the party’s candidate.
Supporters of some of the aspirants are threatening to leave to the party. Goodluck Support groups in the state have said that they may dump PDP and join an opposition party. Already some of the PDP top members like the re-instated Speaker of the State House of Assembly Habib Musa Jega, his deputy, Mohammed Bena, and some other principal officers in the House have joined the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
Former customs officer Alhaji Hussaini Zango Kangiwa and many other PDP bigwigs, including a serving senator Atiku Bagudu, are now House of Representatives and governorship candidates of the APC in the state.
In an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Goodluck Support Group, led by Alhaji Nasir Magaji, said: “On behalf of the 49 Goodluck Support groups with over 400,000 members across the state, we are considering to dump (sic) the PDP to join our mother state (Sokoto), sister state (Zamfara) in APC and its Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, for the 2015 General Election if our demands are not met. We have fixed the 17th day of December, 2014 for our formal declaration to join the APC in Kebbi State.”
The genesis of PDP crisis could be linked to the agitation for power shift to the zones that have not produced a governor before. The agitation produced the likes of Deputy Governor Ibrahim Aliyu as a sole aspirant from Yauri Emirate, while elders from the Zuru Emirate support Senator Muhammadu Magoro and Alhaji Zubairu Turaki – and even Professor Abubakar Kaoje, though he eventually failed to pick a nomination form.
The emergence of many aspirants from Zuru such as Senator Tanko Ayuba, Ishiaku Daudu, Adamu Hussaini and General Muhammadu Dan’Hanne Isah among others was a serious challenge to the agitation for power shift to the emirate. Many of the aspirants were believed to be Governor Dakingari’s ‘anointed’ aspirants and were hoping to outsmart each other.
A group, the Wakala Diri-led political consultation committee, saddled with the responsibility of soliciting for support from Gwandu, Argungu and Yauri emirates as well as the General Ishaya Bamaiyi-led Zuru Consultative Initiative (ZUCI) made up of the likes of Mr Benjamine Dikki, former AIG Lawal Bawa, Col Samaila Yombe among other prominent indigenes, failed to make any tangible impact in their various capacities to guarantee a power shift.
Many aspirants just worked to achieve their individual ambitions and the failed attempts to produce an acceptable candidate in the PDP further highlighted that. General Sarkin-Yaki Bello is still insisting that he remains the candidate. But the other aspirants, particularly Deputy Governor Aliyu, Senator Magoro, Zubairu Turaki, Dr Musa Zagi Argungu, Saidu Sambawa, General Isah, Hon Muhammad Sani Umar Kalgo and Alhaji Mansir Shehu have said they would not accept him. They alleged that he staged his own congress in collaboration with Kebbi North Zonal Chairman Alhaji Aliyu Bagudo.
Many of them allege that he is being supported by the Minister of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki, a member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), Alhaji Buhari Bala; Alhaji Usman Bello Suru, Chairman Kebbi State Local Government Service Commission Muhammad Kiruwa and Alhaji Bello Tugga among others.
Alhaji Abubakar Gari-Malam, the 13th governorship aspirant, had withdrawn from the race before the primary and had allegedly attempted to decamp to the APC but later told his supporters that the PDP has finally agreed to field him as a senatorial candidate to substitute Buhari Jega. He is to contest against Senator Adamu Aliero of the APC in the Kebbi Central Senatorial District.
Unconfirmed reports say the aggrieved aspirants were summoned to Abuja for a meeting on Monday and some of them have attended. “The aggrieved aspirants have been informed that General Bello is an anointed presidency candidate and (his nomination) is irreversible, those who resigned from their places of work will be re-instated and others will be adequately compensated,” one source claimed.
The deputy governor and Mansir Shehu as well as Professor Gulma and Abubakar Tafida, who is tipped to be General Bello’s likely running mate, did not attend the Abuja meeting.
Supporters of Mansir Shehu are those who felt even more cheated by the current situation as they claimed that he was leading in the congress that was cancelled.
Governor Dakingari is also facing a stiff opposition as the party’s candidate for Kebbi North Senatorial District. Some of the key PDP leaders in the zone have decamped to the APC. The State Secretary of the PDP Ibrahim Arzika Bui, when contacted on phone, said he was not in a position to make any comment on the crisis in the party.
His words: “I have been in Abuja since Saturday on another issue. I got news today (Tuesday) that His Excellence the Governor and the acting party chairman are coming to Abuja. I am yet to meet them to know of the party’s position.
“So, if I get any information, I will let you know. I am not also aware of some group of Goodluck supporters’ plan to leave the party.”