Governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State on Sunday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) has “messed up” the state, declaring that the PDP remains united and determined to reclaim power in 2027.
Speaking during a media briefing alongside fellow aspirants, Alhaji Abdulkadir-Hamma Saleh, Hon. Usman-Aliyu Garry, and Monica Kaltho, one of the aspirants, Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, said the PDP had successfully managed its internal processes through dialogue, mutual respect, and loyalty to party leadership.
Mailantarki explained that at the beginning of the governorship primary process, all the aspirants met with party leaders to explore the possibility of producing a consensus candidate.
According to him, the leadership of the party gave the aspirants the opportunity to deliberate among themselves and decide whether one person could emerge by consensus.
“All of us that contested under this platform met in line with the consensus agreement and the method we were going to adopt to get one of us as candidate,” he said.
“We met with our party leaders and they gave us the opportunity to decide by ourselves if we could select one person. In that spirit, we decided not to pick from among ourselves but to return it back to the leadership.”
He said the aspirants resolved to trust the judgement of the party leadership out of respect and confidence in their ability to act fairly.
“Out of the respect that we have for the leadership, we believe they are going to do the right thing,” he stated.
Mailantarki also commended the PDP leadership for what he described as the smooth conduct of the party’s primaries for the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate seats.
“We continued doing everything within our reach to make sure we had a successful conduct of all the elections,” he said.
“Today, I’m happy to tell you that within this country, there is hardly any other state that had it so smooth and straightforward like we did. It is a very good effort by our leaders in the party, especially Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.”
The PDP aspirant, however, said the aspirants woke up to “rumours coming from left, right and centre” alleging that an individual who participated in another party’s governorship primary was seeking to obtain the PDP governorship ticket.
Without mentioning any name directly, Mailantarki reiterated that the PDP remains open to new members but warned against actions that could plunge the party into avoidable legal battles.
“For us, it is a good development for anyone to join this party. We are welcoming everyone that wants to join the PDP,” he said.
“But we want our people and our leaders to bear in mind that we have to do whatever it takes to avoid litigations. Everyone is already happy with the way the PDP conducted all its primaries.”
He stressed that the ultimate goal of the PDP was to win the governorship election and rescue Gombe State from the APC administration.
“We are expecting so many people to join us and support us because APC has messed up this state,” Mailantarki declared.
“So we are hoping that we are going to lead by example. Surprisingly, we are hearing all kinds of rumours from left and right, and we felt it necessary to make our position known.”
According to him, while every intending member is free to join the PDP, the party must be cautious about the legal implications surrounding politicians seeking to switch camps after participating in another party’s primary election.
“Everyone joining this party is welcome. He should come and join us so that we can defeat APC in Gombe State,” he said.
“But we should be mindful of the legal implications, especially with those who participated in another election and are now jumping.”
Mailantarki maintained that all the aspirants were capable of flying the PDP flag and winning the governorship election.
“Our target is to win election and we are all set already. Every one of us is capable of representing this party in the general election,” he added.
He further appealed to new entrants into the PDP to contribute positively to the party’s growth rather than create internal division.
“We hope they will come and add value to the party, not bring anything that will disintegrate the party or create problems for our supporters,” he said.
On when the party leadership is expected to announce its final decision on the consensus arrangement, Mailantarki expressed optimism that the process would be concluded within the next 24 hours.
“We expected them to take a decision earlier today, or at least a day or two earlier,” he said.
“But maybe we hope that the normal affirmation process will take place on Tuesday. So the whole thing needs to be concluded between today and tomorrow.”