Today in Abuja, the seven petitioners urged the party to disqualify Mr. Ribadu as well as former executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Ahmed Modibbo, a former military administrator, Buba Marwa, Marcus Gundiri and another retired army officer, Aliyu Kama. The Gang of 7 aspirants declared that the four men, who recently defected to the PDP, do not deserve the needed waivers to enable them to take part in the party’s primaries to select the governorship candidate.
Nuhu Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, faces more hurdles in his desire to be the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State as seven other aspirants are urging the national headquarters of the party to disqualify him along with three other aspirants.
Today in Abuja, the seven petitioners urged the party to disqualify Mr. Ribadu as well as former executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Ahmed Modibbo, a former military administrator, Buba Marwa, Marcus Gundiri and another retired army officer, Aliyu Kama. The Gang of 7 aspirants declared that the four men, who recently defected to the PDP, do not deserve the needed waivers to enable them to take part in the party’s primaries to select the governorship candidate.
The petition to disqualify the four recent defectors was signed by Ahmed Gulak, a former aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, as well as Awwal Tukur, Aliyu Idi Hong, James Barka, Andrawus Sawa, Umaru Ado, and Haliu Girei.
The petitioners cited sections 50(9) and (10) and 8 (b) of the party's constitution which require aspirants to sustain continued membership of the PDP for a minimum of two years.
Reacting fiercely to the petition, Mr. Ribadu’s media spokesman, Abdulazeez Abdulazeez, said “those huffing and puffing over the entrance of Malam Nuhu Ribadu into this race portray themselves as empty shells.” The statement continued: “The attempt to truncate a legitimate process is totally condemnable and uncalled for. There is no basis for opposition to granting of the waiver. We don't seek for advantage over any aspirant. What we advocate for is for everybody to be allowed to participate in an open and transparent manner. No party member is superior to another.”
Mr. Modibbo, another target of the petition, reacted with even fiercer rhetoric, describing as baseless and ridiculous the insistence of the seven aspirants that he should be disqualified because he was not yet a member of the party.
A statement signed by his media aide stated that, “much as Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Modibbo would not like to join issues with any politician or fellow aspirants in this race, we cannot afford to watch and allow a few unserious elements to have a field day running him down.
“For avoidance of doubt and in our effort to put the record straight, Dr. Modibbo is a foundation member of PDP, a party he had contributed immensely towards since its inception. He first got his initiation into PDP during the 1998 Jos Convention, after spending two sleepless nights.”
The statement added, “Since 2009 till date, we have documentary evidences (sic) indicating that my principal is a key financial member of PDP both at the state and national levels.
“For instance, commencing from January 2009, he had received no fewer than ten letters of appreciation from [the] Adamawa State executive committee of the party for various of his philanthropic gestures.”
The statement disclosed that Mr. Modibbo had made available to reporters his PDP membership card with evidence of his yearly payment of party dues, challenging one of the petitioners, Mr. Ado, to release evidence of “his own contributions to the party, a platform upon which he wants to run for governorship in Adamawa.”