Ahead of next year’s Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Gwagwalada chapter has been accused of illegally substituting validly elected candidates in its primary election held in April this year.
One of the affected candidates who contested the primary election for Kutunku ward, Shuaibu Ibrahim, made the allegation while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.
Ibrahim said seven aspirants indicated interest for the PDP primary election after purchasing their forms and passed through the screening process and issued clearance certificate signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the screening committee for the primary election for Kutunku Ward.
According to him, after due consultation as directed by the party leadership in Gwagwalada, six other aspirants stepped down for him before the election while he was duly elected as the councillorship candidate for Kutunku ward and ratified by the 15 man committee set up by the party for the primary election in the ward.
He stated that after the primary election his name was submitted online in INEC website and was issued an acknowledgement slip on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
“To my surprise, we heard that our names had been substituted by the Chairman of the Party, Mr Abdullahi Yunusa and other renowned leadership of the party at the state level for some All Progressives Congress, APC, members who could not secure ticket in APC and have agreed to defect to PDP to contest the 2022 Area Council Election in Gwagwalada” Shuaibu Ibrahim explained.
He alleged that the leadership of both APC and PDP in Gwagwalada had approached him on the issue and offered money and job opportunity for his wife but he declined to save his political career in Gwagwalada due to the massive support he has been getting from his people in the area.
Ibrahim, therefore, appealed to PDP in Gwagwalada not to tamper with his ticket and allowed him to contest for next year’s FCT Area council election.
Meanwhile, all attempts to get the reaction of PDP chairman Gwagwalada chapter, Abdullahi Yunusa, to speak on the issue proved abortive after several telephone calls and text messages.
