By Abdallah el-Kurebe
It is not yet Uhuru for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto state as the primary election that produced Amb. Abdallah Wali as the party’s governorship candidate on December 8, is shrouded with controversies and rejection.
The lingering problems rocking the party have taken another dimension, the apparent emergence of to two factions.One the one hand , there is the faction led by former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and the state party chairman (who are supporting the election of Abdallah Wali as PDP’s governorship candidate ). On the other hand , there are 25 of the 27 party executive members (who seem to have allegiance to the trio of Mukhtari Shagari, Yusuf Suleiman and Sen. Abubakar Gada) comprising the second divide within the party at the state level now..
The party executive members strongly hold the view that the right thing must be done by the national headquarters of the party about the purported primary election held on December 8, 2014 if the PDP must win the state in the 2015 general election.
Alhaji Usman Mohammed Yabo, State Organising Secretary of the party addressed news men in company of 24 other party executives and some supporters on Thursday alleging that the governorship primary election was neither in order nor conclusive.
“Of the 27 executive members of the PDP in Sokoto, 25 are of the strong view that the governorship primary election held on December 8, 2014 was not in order and therefore the election of Abdallah Wali as the party’s governorship candidate is not conclusive,” Yabo said.
“If PDP must win election in Sokoto state, the right thing must not only be done but also seen to have been done,” he continued.
He explained that having sat in Abuja with the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu; the National Security Adviser (NSA) and vice president Namadi Sambo, “for someone to continue to hold and make people believe that Wali is still the party’s candidate, is misleading.”
Yabo added that one person should not be allowed to hijack and hold the party at ransom, “thereby giving chance for the failure of the party in the state.”
They vowed that if the National Headquarters of the PDP held to the decision of one person against that of the majority, “we will think decisively on the next action to take.”
Yabo however expressed belief and confidence that the leadership of the party at the national level would do justice to the majority.
Among the party executives that attended the press briefing were a Zonal vice chairman, Abubakar Saidu; state organising and financial secretaries; state women leader and public relations officer and 20 others who signed as having endorsed the position of the faction.
