…says ‘North-West lacks exclusive right to nominate next PDP national chairman’
Mallam Umar Sani, former Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, has alleged a plot by some North-West party chieftains, in collaboration with a “Southern politician,” to destabilise the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the emergence of former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, as the consensus candidate for the party’s national chairmanship.
Sani accused the PDP National Organising Secretary, Capt. Umar Bature, of leading a small group of dissenters opposed to Turaki’s choice, arguing that since the position was zoned to the North-West, only the zone should determine the nominee.
He described that argument as “both historically and politically hollow,” stressing that the emergence of a national chairman in a major political party cannot be the exclusive affair of any single region.
Recall that ahead of the party’s November national convention, PDP governors from the North, alongside key stakeholders, met on Wednesday night in Abuja and unanimously endorsed Turaki as their consensus candidate. Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, who announced the decision, clarified that the endorsement did not preclude other aspirants from contesting, as the party’s constitution guarantees every member the right to test their popularity.
In a statement titled “The Charade of a Northwest Meeting,” Sani maintained that the national chairman represents the entire federation, not just his home region. He noted that from Solomon Lar to Adamu Mu’azu, PDP chairmen have always emerged through broad consultations and the influence of power blocs within the party.
“Indeed, most PDP chairmen were hand-picked or endorsed by sitting presidents or leading party figures,” Sani stated. “Solomon Lar’s brief tenure was an exception, as he was chosen to set the party on a sound footing. Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, for instance, completed Adamu Mu’azu’s tenure through the intervention of Wike and Fayose, while the Makarfi-led caretaker committee was conceived by Babangida Aliyu and Sule Lamido. Prince Uche Secondus and Sen. Iyorchia Ayu also emerged through the influence of powerful governors.”
According to him, “History proves that party leaders and governors will always show interest in who leads them. Governor Fintiri merely reaffirmed this long-standing PDP tradition by stating that any dissatisfied aspirant is free to contest.”
Sani noted the irony that Capt. Bature, who is now leading the rebellion, became National Organising Secretary through a unilateral nomination by former Sokoto Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. “For him now to oppose the collective will of the governors is a clear act of insubordination and ingratitude,” he declared.
He alleged that Bature’s alliance with an erstwhile Kebbi PDP governorship candidate and a handful of sympathizers from Sokoto and Jigawa States was “a desperate attempt to give false legitimacy to an unpopular stance.”
“The North-West cannot arrogate to itself the exclusive right to nominate the next PDP national chairman when the position affects the entire country and the unity of the party nationwide,” he stressed.
Commending the endorsement of Turaki, Sani said the choice reflected “a deliberate and strategic consensus anchored on competence, character, and capacity to stabilise the PDP in turbulent times.”
“Those who oppose such a choice for personal gain betray the collective interest of the party. The governors’ decision is steeped in wisdom and foresight, and any genuine lover of the PDP committed to unity, stability, and progress should stand by it,” he added.
Sani concluded that the so-called North-West meeting “is nothing more than a charade of misplaced entitlement a political tantrum by those who mistake selfish ambition for regional interest and arrogate to themselves powers they do not have.”