TEXT OF A PRESS BRIEFING BY ENGR. MARKUS N. GUNDIRI, mni AFTER A MEETING OF STAKEHOLDERS IN ADAMAWA STATE ON MARCH 3RD, 2014. When a group of people of good moral principles convinced me to join active politics after my retirement from Public Service in 2010, we collectively resolved that we will rather accept the bitter price, than to be part of approving the enslavement of the future of our younger generation to injustice in governance. During the elections of 2011 and 2012, the men, women and youths of good character and honour, stood their ground and voted for me in particular, and also some State and National Assembly Legislators, on the platform of the defunct ACN. In doing this they left out those whose brains were guided by their hunger, who sold their votes to forces of darkness for the purposes of rigging the elections, which unfortunately has brought us to our present situation in the State. Let me from the onset use this forum to appreciate our principled elders, women and youths who stood by us in those trying periods, in order that injustice and inequality are swept out of Adamawa State. To all of you I say ‘THANK YOU’. I did not betray your trust during and after the elections. I challenged the governorship election results from the Election Tribunal to the Supreme Court single handedly on your behalf, just to ensure your votes count. Unfortunately, we did not succeed. You did not do it for money, rather because you wanted good governance and good leadership. Once again THANK YOU. You can recall that as one of the founding fathers of the one legacy parties, the ACN, we toiled and used our individual resources, diligence and wisdom to nurture the current APC from its formative stage to date. We worked audaciously with your support and mandate in conjunction with other democrats in the APC across the country, to build the APC that we would all be proud of, but it appeared our goodwill was misconstrued as a sign of weakness and a waning political muscle on our part. This is evident from the gross injustice and impunity introduced in the party in Adamawa State from the onset of APC. The level of impunity perpetrated by members of the outlawed nPDP who recently defected to the APC in Adamawa is better imagined than experienced. For example, the Task Force put in place by the nPDP for their own purpose of mobilization and registration of its own members, was supposed to be dissolved at the commencement of merger between the legacy political parties. This was not the case despite repeated appeals by stakeholders in Adamawa State, and as earlier agreed by members of the State Interim Management Council. This same nPDP Task Force in conjunction with LG Chairmen were used to disenfranchise many members of the other legacy political parties at the recently concluded APC membership registrations. The same Task Force in conjunction with Chairmen of Local Governments was also used to hijack membership registration materials to the extent that some people had to try to register outside their Units, contrary to word and spirit of the APC registration process and to the exclusion of the authentic registration supervisors officially recognized by law. As if that was not enough, the Interim Management Council itself has been turned into a one man show – whereby the dictates of this one man is carried out hook, line, and sinker in the just concluded registration of members which unfortunately resulted in their cancellation in some areas, and in the current management of the Party, Having observed the above mentioned issues and after careful analysis, we put these issues of the extreme level of political brigandage, impunity and rascality on record for an amicable solution by authorities of the APC, but we were ignored. We were therefore forced to ask the question, if at this stage of the political process within the APC of Adamawa State, we have experienced this high level of rascality and irresponsibility, what would be our fate in the forth coming congresses of the party? Your guess is as good as mine. Unfortunately there are still some people who are benefitting from these acts of injustices, irresponsibility and rascality being practiced with impunity in Adamawa State. It is not a hidden fact that these are the issues that has made Adamawa State to be one of the most backward States in Nigeria today; the very practices that we stood against at the last election and on a personal level the very principles that I have abhorred throughout my life. Based on these, and in the interest of the overwhelming supporters who have asked us to collectively reconsider our interest in APC, we have collectively decided today to move over to the Peoples Democratic Party. From today we will begin to contribute our quota to the development of Adamawa state in particular and the country as a whole on this platform. We have been assured that the principles we stood for, which are good governance, justice and fairness to all in Adamawa State will be realized. We therefore call on all our members, supporters and well meaning citizens of Adamawa State to come and join hands with us to move our State forward on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, and for the betterment of all of us. LONG LIVE ADAMAWA LONG LIVE PDP LONG LIVE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Engr. M. N. Gundiri, mni
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 05:14:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015