Son of former governor Ibrahim Idris and a governorship aspirant of the People Democratic Party, PDP, in the November 2019 Kogi Guber election, Abubakar Ibrahim, has described his supposedly expulsion from the party as an attempt to armtwist him from withdrawing his legal case challenging the last year Guber primaries of the party.
Abubakar in a swift reaction said the party at his ward level in Icheke, who read out his expulsion only followed a script orchestrated by some persons at the state level afraid of him securing victory on his legal tussle at the supreme Court.
The statement released on Thursday by his media team read a part, “The attention of Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim, claimant to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP ticket in the November 2019 Governorship election in Kogi State has been called to media reports on his purppoted expulsion from the party. The so called exercise was allegedly orchestrated by the party EXCO in his Icheke Ward of Omala Local Government chaired by Sunday Idakwoji.
“The grounds for the action are summarised as ‘anti-party activities.’ The Icheke speculators accused Abubakar of challenging the outcome of the PDP governorship primaries in Court without resorting to the party. They also blamed him for not attending meetings and not being a financial member of the party.
“Of course these allegations are not only completely untrue but a clear case of an attempt to give dog a bad name in order to make it fit for the slaughter slab. It is the height of political voodooism, brigandage and oppressive impunity.
“The claim by Idakwoji and his cohorts that Abubakar went to court over the controversial Sept. 3rd Primary at the Confluence Stadium without first exploring other internal peaceful party mechanism is not true. By nature, Abubakar is a peaceful team player who plays by the rules. Before he went to the temple of Justice he had petitioned the party voicing his dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, the party did not respond to his petition. He followed up with reminders, which the party also ignored.
“These triple frustrations left the aspirant with no choice but going to court to test the validity of the primary election. Having gone this far, Abubakar is determined to pursue this case to the end. No amount of arm twisting will abduct him from the path of Justice. Since when has dissatisfaction with a shrouded electoral process become a ground for expulsion in the PDP? The truth shall prevail and those who are scared should do the needful by relinquishing the stolen mandate.
“Certainly, Abubakar’s decision to pursue his case constitutionally does not amount to an anti-party activity. You cannot beat a child and stop him from crying.
“The last two allegations about attending meetings and financial contributions are at best frivolous and distractive. We make bold to say that it is unlikely that any of the participants in the infamous expulsion plot in Icheke has attended more PDP meetings or made more financial contributions to the overall progress of the party than ‘the object of their persecution.’ Without doubts, Abubakar is a financial member of the PDP. If he were not, he wouldn’t have scaled and passed the tedious screening exercise that cleared him to stand in the gubernatorial primaries.
“What is apparent in the whole plot from conception to execution thus far is the constant theme of ridicule. Aside snippets of information he got from the social media, Abubakar never received any written communication or invitation from the committee. He was not given fair hearing. The committee played the role of a petitioner and a judge at one and the same time.
“Abubakar remains high spirits and undaunted over his membership of the PDP and his pursuits in the court. He urges his teeming supporters to remain calm and await further instructions as he is still studying the situation”.
