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Ward Congresses in
Adamawa State to select ward and local governments ad hoc delegates of
the People’s Democratic Party ended yesterday with discordant tunes
emerging from various camps of the four governorship aspirants of the
party.

Joel Madaki, former
chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Adamawa State and Umar
Ardo, a former aide to Atiku Abubakar, in a joint press conference
dismissed the elections saying it was not properly conducted.

The congress was to
elect three ad hoc delegates at the ward level and one at the local
government level for both the gubernatorial and presidential primaries
coming up early next year. But Mr Ardo said elections in most local
government areas never held, but rather, delegates were selected.

“Our people came
out expecting elections to hold, but until one o’clock, nobody
appeared, neither the INEC officers nor the PDP officers arrived. In
some places, those who came for the elections dispersed while in some
places they did a walkover because the governor’s side did not come. So
most of them were either that of my side or Joel Madaki or that of Buba
Marwa,” Mr Ardo said. “In some cases, they were told congresses were
conducted and concluded in the night only to be told by 7:30 in the
morning it was finished.”

The fight for who
gets more party delegates, seen to be a contest between Mr Marwa, a
former governor of Lagos State and Murtala Nyako, the incumbent
governor, is tangential to the claims by the other two contenders.

Both Messrs Marwa
and Nyako have expressed satisfaction with the process. Mr Marwa said
he was confident of favourable outcome in 15 out of the 21 local
government areas of the state. Mr Nyako, on the other hand, who is
accused of manipulating the process in his favour, is seen by his
supporters to be in the lead for the party delegates in the state.

Mr Marwa, who told
journalists at a press conference at his residence that he had
interacted personally with over 700 of the delegates taking part in the
elections, said he was envisaging success in the primaries because of
the effort of his campaign organisation, which he said was doing its
home work effectively.

Waiting for INEC

But Messrs Ardo and
Madaki have already petitioned INEC to jettison the ward congresses.
Both men said there were obvious signs. “Because your votes should
count, the principle of the president that every vote should count has
been defeated. Its not true, because it has not been reflected in the
first elections to hold,” Mr Ardo said.

Mr Madaki further
stated that despite the commitment of both the presidency and INEC to
conducting free, fair and credible elections, there can never be free
and fair elections if the internal democracy within the parties are not
strictly adhered to. Mr Joel advised Mr Nyako, who is the leader of the
party in the state as well as the chief security officer, to be mindful
of the security implications of subverting democratic means.

The INEC chairman in the state however said he was yet to get
reports from all his men on the field and would like to reserve
official comments till tomorrow when he expects full briefing on the
matter.