The Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared that Mohammed Abacha is the recognised governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano state
The declaration may have rested the controversy that rocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State, as two candidates Muhammad Abacha and Sadiq Wali have continued to lay claim to the PDP ticket
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano, Professor Risque Shehu, told newsmen, Thursday that as far as the commission is concerned, the elections conducted by the Shehu Sagagi led faction of the party is the authentic elections.
Professor Risque Shehu said, “as at the time the PDP Primary was conducted, Shehu Sagagi was the one recognized by the law as the State Chairman of the party in Kano and is also the only election that we sent our observers”.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, who was responding to questions as to who is the authentic candidate of the party in Kano state, said, “although the primary is purely party affair, as far as we are concerned, the elections conducted by Shehu Sagagi was the one we recognized”.
He said some party stalwarts came from Abuja that they were sent from the PDP headquarters to conduct primary elections into the gubernatorial seat of the State, but they came without a location of where the elections would hold.
“But later Shehu Sagagi, the state-recognized PDP Chairman by law as at that time, came with the same letter from the party headquarters and with locations and we sent our observers who monitored their elections”.
“And later in the day another team of observers claiming they came from the party headquarters came and asked us to send our team of observers to witness their primary elections but we declined because we told them we are acting on what the law says”.
Abacha and Wali had emerged winners of two parallel PDP primaries in the state, with each of them claiming to be the authentic candidate of the party in the state.
