Nuhu Ribadu: wins Adamawa PDP governorship primary

Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of EFCC, on Monday, emerged winner of the PDP gubernatorial primaries in Adamawa state.

The election, held in Abuja due to insurgency in the state, was supervised by the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP

Ribadu scored 688 votes, followed by Sen. Marcus Gundiri with 33 votes, Dr Ahmed Modibbo, 30 votes and the incumbent Gov. Bala Ngilari who polled 26 votes.

Alhaji Awwal Tukur, son of the immediate past National Chairman of the PDP, got 24 votes while Maj,-Gen. Aliyu Kama scored 3 votes.

Ribadu said he was humbled and challenged by the choice of the people of the state.

“My happiness knows no bound as I take your challenge to lead our great party, the PDP, to the gubernatorial election come Feb. 2015. With utmost sense of responsibility and honour, I pledge not to falter as we commence this journey for a new Adamawa State’’, he said.

He added that the delegates, who elected him to fly the flag of the PDP in the state, represented the will of the people of Adamawa.

He said that through their votes, they had voiced the yearnings of the people of Adamawa who were craving for genuine development of the state.

Meanwhile, five out of the seven aspirants that contested the PDP gubernatorial primary in Minna have rejected the results, which gave the governorship candidacy to Alhaji Umar Mohammed Nasko, former Chief of Staff to the Governor Babangida Aliyu.

The aspirants described the election as a charade. They added that it was unacceptable.

The protesting aspirants are Deputy Gov. Ahmed Ibeto, Mustapha Bello, Garba Dukku, Saleh Darangi and Peter Gana.

They made their feelings known when they briefed newsmen shortly after the result was announced in Minna.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Bello said “the results were just allocated to the contenders by the committee handling the election”, stressing that “ridiculous figures were allocated to them.’’

He said they were not only rejecting the results, but also condemning the entire process.

“We all reject the result and we are going to write formally to the party for necessary action to be taken,” he said.

He said the protest would be forwarded to Electoral Committee for redress.

In Gombe state, Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo was elected as the gubernatorial torch bearer of the PDP in the 2015 general Elections.

Dankwambo was elected through an affirmation poll held at the PDP secretariat on Monday in Gombe.

The governor polled 492 votes out of the 504 delegates, while eight votes were invalid and four delegates were absent.

Announcing the result, the Returning Officer and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’Abba, said the delegates had affirmed Dankwambo as the gubernatorial flag bearer of the party in the 2015 elections.