The Action Congress of Nigeria has denied selling the
bid of its 2011 presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, to the Peoples
Democratic Party.
The embattled chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of
the ACN, Mohammed Soba, had on Friday accused the national leader of
the party of selling the candidature of its presidential flag bearer in
the 2011 election to President Goodluck Jonathan, who was PDP’s
candidate, for $100m (N16bn).
In his reaction to the allegation, the National
Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Lai Mohammed, described it as “absolute
nonsense,” and challenged Soba to approach the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, if he had proof to substantiate his claim.
He said, “The allegation is absolute nonsense. It’s
just a reaction of a person who wants to sit-tight on a position from
which he has been duly removed. He has not only been removed from being
the chairman of ACN in Kaduna State, he has also been suspended from the
party.
“Why doesn’t he just approach the EFCC, if he thinks
he is sure of what he is saying? Why he came out with this is because I
issued a statement that we were going to court to stop the Kaduna State
Independent Electoral Commission from conducting local government
elections in the state because they are dealing with a faction of the
party that has been rejected.”
Efforts to get Presidency’s reaction on Saturday were
not successful as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, did not pick calls made to his mobile
number.
It would be recalled that Jonathan surprisingly won
with wide margin in the South-West states controlled by the ACN, except
Osun State, where Ribadu managed a narrow lead.
Jonathan got as much as 1, 281, 688 votes as against
Ribadu’s 427, 203 votes in Lagos State, which is considered the ACN’s
stronghold, fueling rumours of an alleged last-minute accord between the
ACN and PDP, especially after the merger between the ACN and the
Congress for Progressive Change, led by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd)
failed.
According to an online news portal, Sahara Reporters,
Soba claimed he was being witch-hunted for asking them to explain why
they sold the bid for the presidency.
He added, “We challenge Lai Mohammed and the national
secretary of the party, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, to tell the whole world
why state chapters like Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Cross Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa
Ibom, Nassarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba
and Kaduna states are all facing national leadership induced crises.”
Soba also described as empty, the threats by the ACN national
leadership to sue the KSIEC for recognising him, insisting that he
remains the chairman of the state chapter of the party.Punch Nigeria
No comments:
Post a Comment