Kano list: Abacha's son returns as CPC gubernatorial candidate
- Details
- Category: Politics
- Published on Tuesday, 08 February 2011 08:59
- Written by Daily Trust
- Hits: 3322
Confusion enveloped the ranks of the major opposition Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] party in Kano State yesterday when Alhaji Mohamed Sani Abacha bounced back as its gubernatorial candidate, courtesy of the list of nominees published by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Mohamed Abacha, son of the late military ruler General Sani Abacha, had earlier gone to court seeking an order to stop INEC from nominating any other candidate apart from him, claiming that he won the election by a landslide. In the disputed and inconclusive Kano CPC primary elections, Abacha said he polled 144,066 votes while Brig General Isa got 78,617 votes.
Speaking to Sunday Trust in an interview published at the weekend, CPC’s board of trustees chairman and presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari had said in response to a question on the Kano substitution that the party would disqualify anyone who used money to win the primaries, since that is illegal under the Electoral Act.
INEC’s published list in Kano however confirmed former governor of Kano State Dr Musa Rabi’u Kwankwaso and his former deputy Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as gubernatorial candidate and running mate respectively of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
The Action Congress of Nigeria’s (ACN) governorship and deputy governorship candidates are Alhaji Abdullahi Tijjani Muhammad Gwarzo and Nasiru Muhtar, while the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s (ANPP) governorship flag bearer and deputy are Salihu Muhammed Sagir and Bashir Shehu Galadanci respectively.
In the list released by INEC in Kano yesterday, there was no major change in the names submitted by the parties apart from that of the CPC.
CPC’s National Publicity Secretary Engineer Rotimi Fashakin responded to the changes yesterday, saying INEC’s decision to substitute some names of candidates forwarded by parties must have been acting the script of an external force.
Fashakin said there are factors to be considered as to whether INEC, a court or some external forces were responsible for the change of names forwarded by parties. According to him, INEC in its own capacity does not have the power to nominate candidates for any political party.
CPC’s conduct of primaries and submission of names of candidates in Kano was done under a clumsy political atmosphere characterized by petitions and protests.
Justifying the substitution of some of the candidates, INEC commissioner in charge of Legal Services Barrister Phillip Umeadi said INEC has the responsibility of abiding by the laws in the process of electing candidates, adding that only candidates that emerged through duly conducted primaries as recognized by the law would be allowed to stand for election.
Meanwhile, the spokesman to the INEC chairman Kayode Idowu said yesterday that the electoral commission did not substitute any candidate, but that what the commission has published is from the records of the parties as adequately filed.
