The winner of the January governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, Mr. Jibrin Isah Echocho, has declared that his mandate remains intact, despite the purported election of a new candidate by the party last Thursday.
He also said he would soon begin his campaign in the next few days.
Following a fresh directive by the National Secretariat of the PDP, Capt. Idris Wada, last Thursday emerged the new governorship candidate of the party in a primary boycotted by five aspirants.
But Echocho said he is still the authentic candidate of the party, based on the January 9 primary.
In a statement in Abuja, through his Media Consultant, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, Echocho said he remains the PDP flag bearer for the December governorship poll.
The statement reads: “The winner of the January 9 PDP primary in Kogi State, Alhaji Jibrin Isah, has said he remains the authentic, valid and lawfully nominated governorship candidate of the PDP for December 3rd gubernatorial elections.
“By the provisions of the electoral guidelines for Primary elections 2010 of the PDP which is the guideline still in force and with particular reference to Article 23 in Part iv, his nomination remains sacrosanct and un-tampered with as he (Jibrin Isah) is alive, hasn’t withdrawn from the PDP and indeed remains an active member and he is not in any way incapacitated.
“He averred further that, it is even instructive to refer to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010(as amended) and the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended) wherein no provisions either expressly or by implications are found stating that nomination of a candidate for an election lapses where for any unforeseen circumstances the date of an election is shifted by a reason of supervening event as in Kogi State where the date of the election had to be shifted by the reason of the court on the tenure of the incumbent Governor.
“Furthermore, we can’t but refer to the preamble of the electoral guidelines which clearly stated in paragraphs (i) and (ii) quoting copiously from Section 87 (i) (a) and Section 33 of the Electoral Act thus:
(i) Candidates of political parties will only emerge through primary elections dully conducted and monitored by INEC
(ii) Political parties are NO LONGER allowed to change or substitute candidates whose names have been submitted to INEC, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”.
Echocho described the purported September 22, 2011 primary election as a “stage play.”
The statement added: “It is therefore not surprising that, what was designed to be a celebrated and televised primary election on the 22nd September, 2011, was nothing but a stage play that reminds one of Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest, doctored and stage-managed by the leader of the party in the state so as to mislead the unsuspecting public.
“No wonder, credible politicians and leaders of our great party withdrew from the contest because of its illegality and some refused to give it credibility by making an appearance.”
“Isah enjoined his supporters to remain steadfast as his programme for rallies and electioneering will be rolled out in few days.
