Adamawa poll: PDP in stormy session over waiver

By Samuel Ogidan
Abuja

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday engaged each other in a stormy session over granting of waiver to some governorship aspirants from Adamawa state, who recently defected to PDP from the opposition party.
The party leadership, however, wants waiver to precede screening.
The screening of the 14 governorship aspirants, it was gathered, would begib today.

Those, who applied for the party’s waiver already are the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the former Military Administrator of Lagos and Borno states, Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) and the former governorship candidate of the ACN in the 2011 election, Engr. Marcus Gundiri.
National Working Committee (NWC) members led by its National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, were already two hours into their meeting, before they were summoned to the Villa yesterday.

A source said the summon was not unconnected to how to address the waiver application by Ribadu, Marwa and Gundiri.
Briefing journalists before going into the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, said the issue of waiver must be finalised before the commencement of the screening slated for today by 10am.
He said: “May I inform you that the Screening Committee is going on tomorrow (today). It will start by 10am. And will screen the aspirants.
“On the issue of waiver for the gubernatorial primaries, the NWC has not sat as at now. We have come back from the villa. So, maybe we will have a meeting today, and then I brief you after the meeting. But for now, we have not sat. We went to the Villa only for a meeting between the Executive, the Legislature and the Party.”
On the implication of going for screening without the waiver, the party spokesman said “well, the issue of waiver must be finalised before screening because we must take a position on the issue of waiver before the end of screening.”