The chairman of the PDP governorship primary election committee for Sokoto, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, announced the result of the election yesterday.
Wamakko polled 956 votes out of the 961 total votes cast, with five invalid votes, while no vote was recorded for the other two aspirants in the primary election. The excercise commenced with accreditation of delegates at about10:38am, while actual voting started at 11:38am.
While Wamakko was already at the Kangiwa Stadium, Sokoto as early as 8:00am, the other two were conspicuously absent. Also none of the agents of those who boycotted the primary election was present.
In a post-election speech, Wamakko described the primary election as the most peaceful and most transparent poll in the state.
He commended the election team from the national headquarters of the party for conducting the exercise in accordance with party requirements on primary elections and expressed appreciation to the delegates for giving him the votes.
But commenting on the election, the Chairman of Senator Gada Campaign Committee, Dr Mahe Denge said the organization totally rejected the election and called for its immediate cancellation.
He alleged that during the congress election to elect three delegates from each ward in the state, there was no election and that most of the people selected were civil servants.
He pointed out that there were faction in the party and that they had their own list of delegates, which he said, was not the one used.
Dr Denge said, “We feel there was no election .We totally rejects the primary. If you want to see the real politicians, they are with us”.
According to him, “we told the team leader and, after listening to us, he promised that he was going to meet the other camps and invite the three of us to reconcile our differences. But this did not happen.”
Dr Denge added thus: “we will send our petition to the PDP headquarters and urge it, in the interest of the party, to cancel the primaries. It is full of irregularities; all parties not represented. The whole thing is full of falsehood”
He warned: “If we field a wrong candidate in the governorship election in the state, it will spell doom for civil servants not members of the party; they are supposed to be neutral.”
Gada and Suleiman were also absent at the stakeholders meeting convened by the election team from the PDP national headquarter on the eve of the election at the Presidential Lodge in Sokoto.
While Yusuf Suleiman was said to have been in Abuja, Dr Denge said Gada did not attend the meeting because they wanted a neutral place where there will be no interference.
At the meeting, the Chairman of the PDP Governorship primary election committee for Sokoto, Barrister Wike said he summoned the meeting so that they could discuss divergent issues to ensure a hitch-free primary election.
Wike also said at the meeting that it was only those on the list of delegates given to the committee at the national headquarters of the party that would be allowed to vote in the primary election.
According to Barrister Wike, he called Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, but that there was no response and that, when he called Senator Gada, the aspirant insisted that the meeting should be held in a hotel, not in any of the government quarters.
But Wike said they cannot hold such meeting in any place other than the party secretariat or any place they deemed conducive.
Yesterday, one of the candidates in the primary election, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman rejected the process by which the ad-hoc delegates for the primary are chosen saying the entire exercise was not transparent.
In a letter written to the chairman of the Electoral Panel of the PDP gubernatorial primaries and signed by the Director General of his Campaign Organization, Ambassador Ladan Abdullahi Shuni, he stated that membership cards of eligible voters in the primary who are seen as his supporters were confiscated and wards registers throughout the state were also collected and taken away by the state government.
The letter reads in part, “after a thorough review of the process leading to the emergence of the ad-hoc delegates at the ward congress and subsequent preparations for the conduct of the primary, we are constrained to observe serious flaws enough to conclude that the entire exercise was not transparent.’’
It added that, as loyal members of the party that respect the rules, regulations and constitution of PDP the campaign organization is reviewing all necessary options to address what it described as violation of the party constitution regarding the primary election. “In this regard, we write to you formally to convey to your committee our objection to the way and manner the entire process are being handled,” it reads.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
