In what was supposedly to be a fear of Ahmed Modibbo and Nuhu Ribadu ahead of the October 11 gubernatorial by-election in Adamawa, other aspirants have sent a petition to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to disallow them from contesting the election.
The petition was submitted on Thursday as the news broke that the leaders of the party have concluded works on the request for waivers by some of the aspirants and will make the result public today (Friday).
Beside Modibbo and Ribadu, the other aspirants the petitioners asked to be denied waiver are Marcus Gundiri, Buba Marwa and Aliyu Kam.
The four-page petition was signed by seven of the 14 PDP aspirants, namely: Umar Ardo, Ahmed Gulak, James Barka, Andrawus Sawa, Abubakar Halilu Girei, Idi Hong and Awwal Tukur.
The petition sent to the Chairman of waiver panel and National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, was titled: ‘Objection to granting of waivers for the purpose of contesting the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship primaries in Adamawa State for the forthcoming October 11 bye-election’.
The petitioners argued that Ribadu, Gunduri and Modibbo joined the PDP for the first time only recently, while Marwa and Kama returned to the party also only recently after earlier defecting from PDP to other political parties.
However, in their separate reactions, Modibbo and Ribadu described the aspirants’ claim as baseless.
Modibbo, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Julius Toba, said: “much as Dr Ahmed Mohammed Modibbo would not like to join issues with any politicians 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.
“Just like other allegations made against any forward-looking politician of Adamawa extraction by Dr Umar Ardo in the past, this latest one too smacks of bad blood, it is ridiculous, baseless and laughable in its entirety.”
Ribadu, in his reaction, said: “Those huffing and buffing over the entrance of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu into this race portray themselves as empty shells that they are.
“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.”
culled from Source