- Bwacha declared winner at airport
- 6 candidates insist no election took place
- TY Danjuma accused of imposing candidates
Six All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants are wondering how a winner was announced despite the fact that no governorship primary held Taraba state.
Senator Yusuf Yusuf, Professor Sani Yahaya, Chief David Sabo Kente, Engr. Sale Mamman, Hon. Danladi Kifasi and Senator Anthony Manzo have therefore vowed to seek for justice.
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Speaking on behalf of the aspirants during a press conference in Jalingo, Sen. Ahmed Yusuf said the Chairman of the primary election committee, Lawrence Onuchukwu, had on Thursday suspended the process indefinitely and wondered why Senator Emmanuel Bwacha was declared winner of an exercise that did not hold.
“We the six aspirants are calling on the national secretariat of APC to abort the declaration and follow due process.
“We do not want the case of Zamfara in the 2019 election to repeat here in Taraba. We are not against anybody but we want due process to be followed.
“The committee chairman suspended the process indefinitely yesterday and we are surprised that Senator Bwacha has been announced the winner of the process at the airport this morning.
“He was announced in secret, we would not accept it for the interest of APC in Taraba, and if the national secretariat wants to do well for the party and her followers in the state, they should quickly act and abort the declaration,” he said.
Dateline Nigeria reports that the chairman of the APC primary election committee, Lawrence Onuchukwu, had on Thursday night at the Taraba State Police Command headquarters in Jalingo, announced the suspension of the process indefinitely.
However, before leaving the state, the chairman announced at the airport that the primary election was won by former Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha. He also alleged that he was made to say there was no election under duress.
Senator Bwacha has since extended an olive branch to fellow contenders of the governorship ticket.
Addressing the press Friday evening, he said he would personally meet each aspirant to ensure they are on the same page to win Taraba for the APCand save Taraba from total collapse.
There are allegations that what happening within the Taraba APC and even the PDP was orchestrated by former Minister of Defense retired General Theophilus Danjuma, who is accused of disregarding the arrangement for producing the next governor of Taraba State.
The Patriotic Northern Taraba Elders Forum (PNTEF) had earlier in the week expressed disappointment with Danjuma, accusing him promoting tribalism and division in the state by imposing a governorship aspirant from the Southern zone for the PDP ticket.
In a press statement jointly signed by Elder Timothy Mazong, Alhaji Usman Adamu Mafindi and Alhaji Ali Lau, the forum urged the retired General to work towards promoting the unity and stability of the state rather than promoting tribal interest as that is capable of further breaking the fragile lines holding the unity of the state.
“Imagine the southern zone alone ruling the state for eight years, enjoying the position of the state party chairman for four years, and producing the governorship candidate again for another eight years to make up sixteen years. How can this work in a multi-ethnic state like Taraba? We, therefore, appeal to Gen TY Danjuma (retd) who has done a lot to unite Nigeria and is respected worldwide to rescind his decision and support the move to bringing the party’s governorship candidate from the North in the spirit of fairness, justice and equity.”
They said TY Danjuma should remember when in 2015 approached the Northern Taraba elders to support the move for the governorship candidate of our great party to come from the southern zone, precisely, his candidate Arch Darius Dickson Ishaku, and understanding reached at the time in the overall interest of the state.
