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| Hon Wadak |
Wadak commends
Ubandoma’s doggedness, blasts Sango, says his tenure as PDP chairman diminished
the fortunes of the party.
By Dickson Gupiya
July 21, 2019.
Hon DT Sango’s tenure as the Plateau state Chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is said to have brought a lot of setbacks to the
party. This was the submission of a PDP stalwart in the state and a Plateau
Central Senatorial Zone aspirant under the platform of the PDP in the 2018 PDP
primaries, Hon Isaac Wadak.
In an exclusive chat with African Drum in Jos, the
Plateau state capital recently on the crisis concerning the leadership of the
party, Wadak said that Sango’s conscience should be his judge and that if his
conscience condemns him, should tore the path of dignity and resign.
The former permanent Secretary in the Plateau State Civil
Service added that even Sango’s emergence as PDP chairman in 2016 was through a
faulty process allowed by members of the party stressing that the current setbacks
of the party was the consequence of that decision by members of the party. “Let
me state categorically clear, though it may not be palatable to some people.
Sango emerged Chairman of the PDP on a faulty ground. You remember the day the
election was held at Treasure INN Rayfield. The outcome of the election was that
there was over voting, so, there was the need to conduct another election. But
what happened?. That result was announced and the PDP members allowed it to go
like that and now we are facing the consequences of that decision”.
Responding to a question of allegation that Sango
deliberately refused to allowed the challenge at the Local Government Election
Petition Tribunal the outcome of the October 10, 2018 Local Government Election
in the state, most especially at the Appeal Tribunal, Wadak said, “I don’t know
whether that is true or not, but one thing I can tell you which is true, which
is factual and I also want you to take note of is this; before Sango emerged as
Chairman of the PDP in Plateau State, we had 3 Senators, but now we have only
1. We had 8 House of Representatives members but we have 4 now; we had 13 House
of Assembly members, but we have 8 now; we had almost all the Local Government
Council Chairmen but today, we just got only one through the tribunal. What
else do you want anybody to say about Sango? However, I cannot categorically
tell you that the allegation is true. I think that question should be addressed
to Sango directly for him to answer. Whether it is his lackadaisical attitude
is reason why the party or candidates were unable to appeal their cases? I
think Sango should be in a better position to answer that. But what I know is
what I mentioned. I can only speak on what I have records on and it is exactly
what I just told you.
On the Party internal wrangling in the state culminating in
the suspension of the DT Sango as Chairman, Wadak said it was in the spirit of
democracy and that due process was followed as the decision was taken by the
State Working Committee and ratified by the State Executive Committee. “This is
democracy at work. Such things are bound to happen and as committed and genuine
party members, when you realized that things are not going well, and you feel
there is the need to work towards reinventing the party, you are bound to
experience these kinds of wranglings.
From the beginning, we had the issue of Central Working
Committee suspending Sango as Chairman of the party in the state and the
decision was ratified by the State Executive Council. These are the key top
ranking organs of the party at the state level. They took a decision and as a
committed and obedient party member you have to abide by it. No member of the
party is above the decision of these organs. So, my position is that, if these
two organs of the party have taken a decision, we should respect it”.
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| Wadak |
Speaking on the
letter from the National office of the PDP asking Hon Theophilus Dakas Sha, the
Vice Chairman North Central of the party to hold brief until things are sorted
out and why Sango is still parading himself as the Chairman of the party in the
state and even allegedly said he would not vacate the office because he is not
a weakling like Dr. Haruna Dabin and Prof. Dakum Shown former PDP Chairmen in
the state who Sango is further alleged that they were forced to vacate office
without due process, he said, “My take on this is, who are the people making
the move to remove Sango from office? It’s
the CWC and SEC. And like I earlier said, these bodies are the highest decision
making organs of the party in the state and if these two bodies said, look, we
don’t want you on the seat, Sango has moral burden to leave the office because
the whole essence about this hinged on moral burden.
“Actually, I personally have not heard Sango said something
regarding Dabin or Shown. I am hearing it from you for the first time. However,
Dabin and Shown stand on high moral ground and have earned their respect. I am
telling you that today the PDP family holds Dabin, Shown and most especially
Raymond Dabo in high esteem because of the decision they took. They actually
knew when to quit. But in the case of Sango, I don’t know if actually somebody
has asked him to resign at this particular moment, but if there is any, that
person loves him”.
Wadak also congratulated Hon. Laven Joshua Ubandoma for his
resilience and doggedness which according to him culminated to his victory at
the Appeal Tribunal that upturned the decision of the lower tribunal and
declared him as duly elected chairman of Langtang North local Government on
Friday. “I feel elated. As a matter of fact, when I was reading it on the
social media yesterday, I thought it was one of the social media unreliable
stories, but when it was eventually carried as a news item, I said this is good
and a plus for democracy. I have sent a text message to Laven Joshua Ubandoma
and I congratulated his resilience and dexterity because this is what brought
about the success. How I wish other candidates took their cases to the Appeal
tribunal”, he stated.
When asked to comment on why it is only Ubandoma that
appealed his petition, he said “That is the saddest thing. Like I posted on the
social media yesterday, I asked if there was another Local Government at the
Appellant Tribunal and I was told it was only Langtang North. You begin to ask
what really happened. Could it be that the party or candidates in other Lccal Governments
could not file their cases or they just felt that they did not have confidence
in the judiciary? These are some of the issues that you journalists need to
find out because it's disturbing. If out of all the Local Governments that
actually contested that election under the platform of the PDP could not appeal
then something is wrong. Maybe you should direct that question to the party.
Maybe the party or the individual candidates can answer that question.”
He noted that the Judiciary has absolutely lived up to its
expectation saying that he was trying to sum up what informed the decision of
the Appellant Tribunal. “You know the matter was earlier dismissed at the lower
tribunal on technical ground but the Appellant Tribunal ordered the lower
tribunal to hear the petition on its merit. The lower tribunal, based on the
order of the Appellant heard the petition but in its Judgment, strike-out the
petition for lack of merit but the Appellant Tribunal again, upturned the
decision of the lower tribunal. This goes to shows that the days of striking
out matters by the courts on technical grounds are beginning to phase out”,
said Wadak.
He advised Ubandoma to consider his victory at the tribunal
as a challenge to deliver on his mandate in line with PDP philosophy. “Ubandoma
should take his victory seriously and make sure he delivered on his mandate in
line with our party philosophy. PDP members are looking up unto him to deliver
and he should not disappoint us. He should carry everybody along”.
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