Ahead of the 2015 general elections, Governor James Ngilari of Adamawa State has been barred from contesting the governorship election of the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The party said it was bound to comply with the agreement it entered into with governorship aspirants from the state about two months ago.
The decision to ban Ngilari was taken at the meeting of the members of the National Working Committee of the party in Abuja on Wednesday night.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja, Thursday.
According to Metuh, the next governorship candidate of the party would come from the Central Senatorial District of the state, which has never produced a governor.
Ngilari is from the northern part of the state.
He said, “On Adamawa, the NWC has decided that the decision and agreements of the candidates in Adamawa during our last exercise would be upheld.
“Accordingly, the governorship election in 2015 has been zoned to Adamawa Central. All aspirants, who bought forms (eight of them) that signed the agreement and withdrew are advised to come and exchange it without any payment with the new 2015 forms.
“It means they are entitled to run since they are from the same senatorial zone. The party will fully implement that agreement”.
It would be recalled that the former acting governor of the state, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri and seven other governorship aspirants in the state stormed the PDP national headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday to insist that Mr. Ngilari must not be allowed to contest the governorship primary of the party in the state.
The eight aspirants insisted that the zoning arrangement earlier reached with them by the party must be respected.
Apart from Fintiri, those who also visited the party to register their grievances were a former political aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak; son of a former PDP national chairman, Awwal Tukur, former minister of health, Idi Hong; Mr. James Barka, Aliyu kama, Marcus Gundiri and Abubakar Girei.
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, who was part of the team with whom the agreement was made, was conspicuously absent.
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