MINISTER of Sports, Yusuf Suleiman, yesterday in Abuja picked the nomination form ahead of the December 17 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries in Sokoto State.
He is the third aspirant after the incumbent governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, to declare interest in the race. The other aspirant is Senator Umar Abubakar Daga.
It was learnt that more aspirants would join the list amid speculations and concerns in the state that the incumbent governor might suffer a fate similar to that of the Bayelsa Governor Timipre Sylva following his poor relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan.
An aide to the minister, however, disclosed that his emergence as a governorship aspirant followed pressure put on him by some elders of the party in Sokoto.
“The minister simply bowed to the wishes of the elders of the party in the state. He has no immediate reason to walk away from his ministerial appointment and join the race. The elders impressed it on him that the state is lagging behind in socio-economic development and there was a need for all hands to be on deck”, he said.
It was learnt that Ambassador Ledan Abdullahi Shuli led a delegation of well-meaning members of the party in the state to Abuja to persuade Suleiman to pick the nomination form and contest the primary and “save the party in Sokoto from extinction”.
A member of the delegation told The Guardian that the elders in the state do not want to be taken unawares and are, therefore, looking for any candidate acceptable to all stakeholders, including even members of the other parties in the state.
“For the last 12 years, the party in the state has been going through a series of intrigues bordering on distrust, deliberate divide and rule tactics and alienation of well-meaning committed party members.
“So, we feel this is the time to pick a person with the profile that can appeal to the political mainstream and the general populace in Sokoto. We are looking for a candidate that is capable of uniting all segments of party members and even bring considerable members of the opposition to the PDP fold”, he said.
In Enugu State, Governor Sullivan Chime has reassured the people of the state that PDP will continue to deliver good governance to meet their expectations.
Addressing a rally of party supporters during the flag off of the December 10 local council election in the state at Okpara Square, Chime said the party has the interest and welfare of the people at heart and should be voted for during the election.
In a related development, the Austus Okey Ogbonna-led faction of the party has submitted a parallel list of candidates to the State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) for the December 10 polls.
A letter to the state chairman of the commission, Boniface Eneh Ogbonna and his secretary, Oyibo Chukwu, said the list was being forwarded after “a successful completion of primaries for the 2011 local council election in Enugu State by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”.
Chime, however, told the crowd at Okpara Square that the party was parading very credible candidates for the December local council election after due consultations with party stakeholders and party leadership in the state.
Meanwhile, as the race for the vacant position of the national chairman of the party gathers momentum, a party chieftain and legal practitioner, Ibrahim Birma, has vowed to make the party stronger, where every member will feel a sense of belonging irrespective of prevailing electoral fortunes.
At a session with journalists yesterday in Lagos, Birma said his aspiration for the position is supported by the fact that “the time has come for the party to change its way of doing things”.
According to the aspirant, the PDP had over the years been confronted with challenges, adding that there is the need to re-engineer the country’s political landscape. He observed that the party has been encumbered by problems from the conduct of its primaries “and the attendant fallouts have benefitted the other parties”.
According to him, “there must be a new way of conducting primaries by reaching out to aspirants so as to reach a consensus that would be beneficial to all concerned. Frictions must be minimised by encouraging fair play and interplay of interests”.