Adamawa governorship: PDP grants Ribadu, others waiver

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has granted waiver to Nuhu Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Buba Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos and Borno states, as well as Markus Gundiri, governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 election, to contest the October 11 governorship bye-election in Adamawa State.

The three aspirants had earlier submitted their applications for waiver to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party which had forwarded the requests to the Governorship Waiver Committee headed by Abubakar Mustapha, the national organising secretary.

Addressing journalists at a press conference immediately after the NWC meeting in Abuja on Friday, Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of PDP, debunked speculation that the NWC was divided over the matter, stressing that it was a “unanimous decision.”

According to him, all the aspirants met the requirements stipulated by the party’s constitution to participate in the process.

Under the PDP constitution, new members and returnees are not qualified to seek elective positions until after two years, except they get waiver from the NWC which will later be ratified by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

Section 50 (9) of the constitution reads: “There shall be a minimum of two years membership span for a member to be eligible to stand for election into any public office, unless the appropriate executive committee gives a waiver or rules to the contrary.”

He said: “After very careful and thorough consideration of all applications and the report of the Abubakar Mustapha-led Adamawa State PDP Governorship Waiver Committee, the NWC was satisfied that all the aspirants met the requirements stipulated by the PDP constitution to participate in the process.

“Consequently, waiver has been granted to Buba Marwa, Marcus Gundiri and Nuhu Ribadu to take part in the exercise.

“The NWC hereby restates its confidence in the leadership of the national chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, in providing a level playing ground for all eligible citizens of the state to participate in the democratic process.

“It assures that the nomination process, including screening of aspirants as well as the primary election will be conducted with utmost transparency and strict adherence to rules and the principles of justice, fairness and equity.

“Finally, the NWC debunks speculations that its members were divided on the grant of the waiver and reiterates that the decision to open the space for wider participation was unanimously adopted after very extensive deliberations”.

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE