Adamawa State Governor, Bala Ngilari

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been advised to intervene and reverse the plot by stakeholders in the party to tacitly bar the Adamawa State Governor, Bala Ngilari, from contesting the 2015 governorship election in the state.

Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Festus Keyamo, in a letter to the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, said a zoning arrangement in favour of Adamawa Central district decided in the absence of Nglirai was designed to disqualify him from contesting the election and that where the party does not reverse the decision within 48 hours, his client would approach the court of law to seek redress.

“On or about Thursday, October 30, the Working Committee (NWC) of your party issued a statement that the zoning of the governorship to Adamawa central senatorial district (which was done in our client’s absence from office) remains sacrosanct. The implication of this is that our client has been schemed out of the race since he is not from Adamawa Central, but from Adamawa North senatorial district,” he noted.

According to him, the arrangement is considered malicious, considering the fact that the PDP has never denied a sitting governor the party ticket and also because it runs contrary to a recent statement by Mua’zu who promised that the right of first refusal extended to President Goodluck Jonathan will also be extended to governors.

“On the day President Goodluck Jonathan collected his expression of interest and nomination forms at the PDP headquarters, the PDP chairman remarked that the same gesture extended to the president as the sitting president, would also be extended to sitting governors – that is, automatic tickets or the right of first refusal. Why then, would the case of Adamawa State be different? Why would Ngilari be singled out for special treatment and why would he not benefit from the gesture extended to his colleagues?

“Kindly note, sir, that since the birth of the PDP in 1999 up till this moment, the PDP has never denied any sitting governor who is eligible for re-election the ticket to re-contest. The only isolated incident was the case of Mbadinuju of Anambra State in 2003, and the consequence of that decision is that the PDP has lost Anambra State till date to rival political parties, due to the crises that followed that decision.

“It is therefore inconceivable, that our client be deprived the ticket to run for the governorship election in 2015. It may interest you to know, sir, that since the existence of the old Gongola State up to the creation and existence of Adamawa State, no zoning formula based on senatorial districts has been used to produce the various governors of the state,” he argued.

Keyamo contended further that the decision of the PDP on zoning to deprive Ngilari of his right to contest the election runs contrary to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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