FCT ELECTION: PDP speaks on withdrawal of party's candidates, says it’s shameful

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the withdrawal of some of its candidates from the forthcoming Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was carried out without the party’s consent.

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The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ini Ememobong, in a statement issued on Friday, said the party’s leadership received reports of the candidates’ withdrawal from the contest with dismay.

Mr Ememobong maintained that the action was anti-democratic and condemned the development.

“The National Working Committee of the Party @OfficialPDPNig has received with utter dismay the news of the withdrawal or stepping down of some chairmanship candidates of our party from the forthcoming Abuja Local Council elections.

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“This action is anti-democratic in every sense and is hereby totally condemned by the party. Democracy thrives on healthy electoral contests, not forced or induced melodramatic consensus, as currently witnessed in the build-up to the FCT local council elections,” he said.

Residents of Nigeria’s capital will go to the polls on Saturday to elect who will manage affairs of the six Area Councils for the next four years.

Unlike Nigeria’s 36 states, which operate Local Government Areas (LGAs) as the third tier of government, the FCT has six Area Councils that perform equivalent grassroots governance functions. They are: Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari, Abaji, and Kwali.

Together, they form the administrative structure closest to the people within the FCT. Each council is led by an elected Chairman and supported by councillors representing various wards.

So far, two PDP chairmanship candidates have withdrawn from the race and endorsed candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Their withdrawal followed the intervention of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The PDP chairmanship candidate for Bwari Area Council, Julius Adamu, stepped down from the race on Wednesday and declared support for the APC candidate, Joshua Musa.

Similarly, Zadna Dantani, the PDP candidate for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), the most populated and infrastructure-demanding area council in the FCT, withdrew from the contest on Thursday and endorsed the incumbent chairman, Christopher Maikalangu of the APC, who is seeking re-election.

Mr Wike is sympathetic to a faction of the party led by Mohammed Abdulrahman.

Alleged involvement of former party leaders

Mr Ememobong alleged that the individuals manipulating the candidates to withdraw from the race are former party leaders who had been expelled.

He claimed that the former leaders are working to weaken the PDP in favour of President Bola Tinubu and warned that similar developments could occur ahead of the 2027 presidential election, in which candidates may be pressured to step down to support the president’s second-term bid.

ALSO READ: FCT Elections: Mixed reactions as PDP chairmanship candidate endorses APC opponent

“As sad as this development is, it is a pointer to the type of voodoo democracy promoted by those parading as leaders of the PDP, whose only interest is to ‘hold’ the party for the President. This is exactly what they intended to do to Nigerians: when close to the presidential elections, they can compel, induce, or cajole all the other candidates to step down or withdraw so the president can have a smooth sail back to Aso Rock Villa, despite the abysmal performance of his administration.

“It was for ignoble, reckless and shameless acts like these that we excommunicated them from our party, in order to rebuild a strong opposition party, prepared for a struggle to return to power by 2027,” he said.

Mr Ememobong, however, urged voters to safeguard their votes and ensure that presiding officers transmit Form EC8A immediately after announcing results at the polling units.