Fresh plot to disqualify Atiku

Barely one week after the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced the date for its presidential primaries for next year’s general election, there are fresh plots to disqualify the northern consensus candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

According to a document, now available to Daily Sun, part of the plan is to seek to stop the party primaries in the event that Atiku is cleared to vie for the presidential primaries of the party.  In fact, the party’s leadership has been given a 10-day ultimatum to disqualify the former vice president or risk the commencement of a legal action.

A letter dated December 17, 2010, entitled ‘Disqualification of Atiku Abubakar From Participation at the January 13, 2011, PDP Presidential Primaries by Screening Panel,’ raised questions over the eligibility of Atiku as a member of the party and that the waiver granted him by the 53rd National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party was invalid and wrong procedurally.

The letter, addressed to the chairman of the Presidential Screening Committee, copies of which were sent to all the party’s stakeholders, insisted that Atiku had also violated the guidelines of the party in his bid to stage-manage his return to the party. The nine-page document was signed by Dr. Udeh Obinna, Faruk Garba, Chief Osoba Fasewe and John Timipriye on behalf of PDP Stakeholders Forum.

The letter also claimed that Atiku neither got the primary election participation waiver nor the returnee waiver, which contravened Articles 17 (2) g, 8 and 10 (b) iii of the PDP constitution, adding that his return to the party was without the recommendation of his state chapter to the National Working Committee (NWC).

“Atiku was expelled from the party during the build-up to the 2007 general election for heavy anti-party activities and corruption indictment, which led to the loss his membership of the party. The constitution of the PDP stipulates that once he signifies interest to return to the party, he must be re-admitted by his state exco and thereafter his waiver request shall be forwarded to NEC via the NWC. The waiver granted Atiku is for the purpose of being accepted back as an ordinary member of the party and not for the purpose of crossing the requirement for eligibility to contest primary election. This procedure was not followed by Atiku,” the letter noted.

While insisting that the waiver granted Atiku was consequent upon a letter he personally wrote to the party, the PDP Stakeholders Forum concluded: “So, the bottom line is that the waiver is a nullity and not tenable. Atiku is statutorily not a bona fide member of the PDP and has no valid waiver upon which to contest election under the party platform.”

The group also said that Atiku’s reliance on the report of the Ekwueme report as grounds for his waiver claim is not tenable since according to them the report “is an ad hoc report of NEC, which was not presented to the national convention for ratification and cannot override the express requirement of the PDP constitution, which makes eligibility and membership issues a purely party constitutional issue.”

Part of the reasons given to the committee for the disqualification of Atiku included allegations that he had in the last couple of months criticised the PDP-led government as well as made statements that threatened not only the unity of the party but the corporate entity of the Nigerian state.  But the Atiku Campaign Organisation has dismissed the contents of the letter, saying it was lacking in depth and fact.

Garba Shehu, Atiku’s spokeman, told Daily Sun in a telephone interview that “anybody plotting to disqualify Atiku does not wish this country well and there is even no basis for it.” He insisted that Atiku was in possession of a certificate of waiver issued to him by the party and that due process was followed.

“He applied to Adamawa PDP, which said there was no objection. NWC approved the waiver and NEC overwhelmingly approved it. What I’m sure they don’t know is that the Adamawa PDP cannot give waiver to senators, governors, vice presidents and presidents because such category of party- men were within the domain of NEC.

Posted: at 20-12-2010 11:25 AM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

that is not the best let them allow him to commit his political suicide

Posted: at 3-01-2011 02:59 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

  I JUST WANNA CRY! POEPLE LIKE DIS WONT LET US JUST BE  WHY? ABEG OGAR JUST GO AND REST OR NIGERIANS WILL MAKE YOU REST. SAY POWER NA BY FORCE NE?

Posted: at 4-01-2011 09:06 AM (13 years ago) | Newbie