Mohammed Abacha, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kano, has insisted that he was validly elected by party delegates as the candidate of the party.
A statement by Manniru Mailafiya, the spokesman for Mohammed Abacha Campaign Organization, said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was misled into accepting the name of Sadiq Wali, forwarded to it by the party headquarters.
According to him, the court judgement INEC relied upon to accept Mr Wali’s name was not related to the governorship but presidential primaries.
“The Mohammed Abacha Campaign Organization has 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.
“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.’
“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 issue a statement 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 law.
“But in their desperate moves to cause confusion, 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 in order to reclaim our hard-earned mandate,” he said.
