presidential ticket: PDP Prints One Nomination Form The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) printed only one nomination form and expression of interest form which it reserved for its sole presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan. The development might have prompted two other PDP presidential aspirants, Dr. Abdul Jahil Tafawa-Balewa – son of former prime minister of Nigeria, and Akasoba Zainab Abiola – wife of late winner of the June 12 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, to express frustration and bewilderment at the matter. The two aspirants disclosed this yesterday after their unsuccessful bid to secure the forms at the national secretariat in Abuja .The two aspirants further stated that the party told them that the forms were either not ready or solely reserved for Jonathan. Tafawa-Balewa said the party told him that the forms were not ready and asked him to return on Thursday, while Zainab Abiola, on her part, disclosed that she was told that only one set of presidential forms were printed, supposedly for President Jonathan. Thursday is the last day for the purchase of the forms in the party. The attempt by the two presidential aspirants to pick the forms is in opposition to the sole candidacy of President Jonathan as declared by the National Executive Committee (NEC). The PDP national leadership had also instructed all party members to abide by the endorsement. But speaking with journalists in Abuja yesterday, Tafawa-Balewa revealed that the national secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, and national organising secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, had told him that the forms were not ready, an occurrence that he described as worrisome considering the present tempo of the polity. Tafawa-Balewa, who disclosed that he had paid the required N22 million for the presidential nomination form, displayed a Zenith Bank teller with account number 1012436478 to that effect. He said: “I have paid for my forms. I was, however, told that they don’t have the forms ready. No matter, I am still here. I will send some of my people here to come and pick the form. “I went to see the secretary. I also went to see the organising secretary and they said the form was not ready. I am a party person, so I don’t want to have any doubt in thinking that, maybe, the presidential form is not available. We have so many gubernatorial forms and so many people picking those up and very few of us – just the president and I – for the presidential race; so, why two forms will not be ready is a little bit worrisome, but my party will do what is right.” Reacting to the endorsement of Jonathan by the PDP, Tafawa- Balewa said: “I think those who endorsed the president is a body and the body has organs. These organs are little parts of the body. I am appealing to the body polity and I am going to run. Those organs do not always represent the masses that follow my path.” He denied insinuations that he was sent by some people to cause a distraction to Jonathan’s emergence. On her part, Abiola, who disclosed that she, too, had paid the N22 million fee for the presidential nomination forms at Diamond Bank Plc., stated that when she approached the leadership of the party to collect the forms, she was told that only one set of the forms was printed. Brandishing the bank teller, she threatened to go to court if she was not given justice in the matter. She revealed that after meeting the national chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, and the national organising secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, they “said to me that they printed just one nomination form. They told me they were reserving it for the president.” She added: “I have the guidelines; I have not seen where it is stated that you need to print just one form. PDP, the largest party, printed just one party nomination form for position of president.” While she described the situation as a misrepresentation of facts, she declared that she was not asking for a refund of her my money as she wanted to content for the nation’s top job. “As we speak, there is vacancy in Aso Rock. No one can stop me from contesting,” she insisted. Inn his reaction, however, the national publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, denied knowledge of the situation, saying he just heard about it from the reporter. He said: “I will like to confirm from the national chairman and the national organising secretary the true position.” When asked if the party would be willing to sell forms to other presidential aspirants, Metuh said he would direct the journalists to the national organising secretary whose office handled the issue of forms. --LEADERSHIP NEWS
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 13:10:11 +0000
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