AHEAD of the 2012 governorship elections in Adamawa State, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is toying with an all too familiar scenario. The party's governorship primary, where the incumbent governor, Murtala Nyako, emerged as the governorship candidate looks capable of dragging the party back to its crisis ridden years. Since the emergence of Nyako, as the party's candidate in 2007, the PDP has not known peace in the state.The latest rumbling of crisis in the PDP in Adamawa is emanating from the delegates' congress. The question is why is Adamawa PDP afraid of other contestants facing Nyako at the congress.At the primary, the PDP might have paved way for the emergence of Nyako, as the only aspirant challenging him,Dr. Umar Ardo was excluded from the party's ad-hoc delegates' congress conducted last Friday. The congress didn't start well. It initially held last Wednesday, but was cancelled because of the absence of the election panel from Abuja. But despite the delay, the major controversy over the congress was the exclusion of Ardo. It was gathered that the state party denied his supporters nomination forms to participate in the exercise.Four days to the delegates' congress, the state PDP chairman Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama told the people at the presentation of Nyako's nomination form that the party has no other governorship candidate beside Nyako. Kugama, a cousin to the governor, and from the same ward, said that nothing can stop the governor from getting the ticket to PDP return ticket. Kugama's statement has been described as undemocratic, selfish and unpatriotic.Alhaji Abubakar Toungo, a PDP chieftain told The Guardian that, 'Kugama's statement disqualified him to remain as the leader of the party.' He said that the PDP chairman has compromised his office by supporting the governor against other contestants.'As the party chairman he is the father of all members, but the chairman's statement proved that he is there to protect the interests of an individual and in this case, the governor's and not the interests of Adamawa people,' he said.Hajiya Asmau Adamu a PDP chieftain in Mayo-Belwa, Nyako's local council, expressed fear over the chances of her party at the elections, considering the crisis staring the party in the face. She called on the PDP national secretariat to find a democratic solution to the crisis to avoid PDP losing at the election.Hajiya Adamu told The Guardian that it was undemocratic to deny Ardo's supporters nomination forms to participate in the ad-hoc delegates' congress.'Adamawa PDP cannot say that delegates' congress is conducted when supporters of Ardo were denied nomination forms. If the party has confidence in the governor because of his performance, then there is no need to worry about other aspirants who want to face the governor at the primary'' she said.And Mr. John Chinda Bello, another chieftain of the PDP from Madagali council urged the PDP national secretariat to handle the Adamawa PDP situation without bias, if the party wants to retain the hint of peace in the state. He pointed out that the party stood the chance of losing the governorship election, if proper actions are not taking on time.'People should not be carried away that PDP has the majority of State Assembly members. They should look at the case of Nasarawa, Ekiti and Imo states. Nobody can conclude that PDP can win Adamawa with the way things are going,' he said.Ardo, who was in the governorship race four years ago, was an adviser to former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. He is the only governorship aspirant out of the 11 that started the race in the cancelled primary of 2007 that is still challenging Nyako. Others have taken political appointment in the present state government and some, like Senator Jonathan Zwingina, have quit the race. Ardo who was the director of Dr. Peter Odili, Presidential Campaign Organisation is nicknamed the Nelson Mandela of Adamawa, as a result of his fight to institute democracy in Adamawa PDP.According to observers, there were earlier and clear indications that under a free and fair delegates' congress Ardo would have been disposed to emerge as the favourite. But the fear was that Adamawa PDP would not be able to organise a transparent delegates' congress.On television and as people watched the primary, not many people detected the tension as all looked well as the votes were counted. But a PDP panel investigated the petition of Ardo.In a five-page petition, Ardo is demanding for the cancellation of the exercise because the purported exercise, 'totally violated the PDP guidelines and the 2010 amended Electoral Act.' The PDP national secretariat on Thursday last week cancelled the delegates' congress conducted last Wednesday by the Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama led executive of the party in the state.In a one-page statement, PDP publicity secretary, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, rescheduled the new delegates' congress. The congress again could not hold on the rescheduled date place as a result of late arrival of the election panel team. On Wednesday last week, the PDP state organising secretary, Mr. Myambochond S. Jinde, told reporters that the national secretariat directed the state chapter to conduct the congress without the election panel.The state chairman of PDP told journalists at a different venue that the election panel was in the state on the day of the congress (Wednesday).However, the election panel team headed by the former Secretary to the Zamfara State government Alhaji Abubakar Useni Muri arrived Yola on Thursday, the date for the congress. The election panel didn't display the election materials before journalists at the party secretariat while addressing members of the party.Muri had said that, 'during our stakeholders meeting with the party members in the night, we would hand over the election materials to the party executives for distribution.'After the panel conducted the delegates' congress last Friday without Ardo, the panel headed by the Minister of State for Education Mr. Ezenwa Nyesom Wike, last Monday conducted the primary without Ardo. The question now is will the appeal panel or the court nullify the primary on the ground that one of the aspirant was excluded from the pre-primary'Meanwhile, Ardo said that he is waiting for the report of the appeal panel of the party sent from Abuja before he takes the next line of action. Ardo is not a sarnger to the leadership crisis in the PDP in Adamawa. He took the party leadership to court over the tenure and the matter will soon come up in the Supreme Court. He is contending that the leadership of the party in the state is unconstitutional because the members have overstayed in office. Secondly, he claims that the 'situation where the governor and the state chairman are from the same ward is against the party's constitution.'Ardo said that Kugama has been in office for over six years while the constitution says four years and that he was not reelected.Whatever happens now, party men are holding their breath as another chapter might open in the crisis of the party in Adamawa. In 2007, the governor dramatically became the party's flagbearer without a primary, which violated the Electoral Act and PDP constitution. The governor in 2007 enjoyed the support of Senator Jibril Aminu, who was then the PDP linkman in the state and former President Olusegun Obasanjo's most trusted political allies in Adamawa. In the absence of a primary, the governor who was not even among the aspirants was picked on the eve of the botched primary.In February, 2011 the ruling party was torn apart after the governorship congress, which the supporters of Gen. Muhammed Buba Marwa (rtd) said they their candidate won, but the National Secretariat rejected the results of the election panel it sent to Adamawa and accepted the result of the state executive, which was not mandated to conduct the exercise.The action of the party's national leadership generated crisis that lead to the exit of Marwa and his supporters to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
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