FINALLY!

11 Governors Bent on Imposing Candidate For 2015 PDP Primaries (6)- (11) James Ngilari/Adamawa State

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It is no longer news that the just concluded PDP Delegate Elections left a stalemate in many states across Nigeria and as the race towards 2015 gathers momentum, many incumbent governors are either running for Senate or trying to impose favoured politicians to succeed.

It is now an open secret that 11 governors today have caused battles as they attempt to dictate who steps into one political office or not. Here is a window to what is going on in these states.

James Ngilari/Adamawa State

Adamawa State Governor James Ngilari is holding a tough governorship mandate. He became governor on September 10 following a court ruling that sacked Umaru Fintiri. Fintiri had been acting governor since July 15, when Murtala Nyako was impeached as governor. Prior to the court ruling, things appeared to be stabilising in the politics of the state after an initial shock that followed Nyako's impeachment. PDP had held its primaries and picked Fintiri as its candidate ahead of the October 11 governorship bye-election fixed by INEC to elect a substantive governor. And the ruling party in the state had also zoned the governorship seat to Adamawa Central senatorial district and secured an agreement among the aspirants that whoever won the bye-election would not contest the governorship election in 2015.


But the court ruling seemed to upturn the agreements. Now Ngilari, who is from the Northern senatorial district, is on a collision course with his party. His body language shows a desire to contest the governorship election next year, but the PDP National Working Committee on October 29 reiterated its commitment to the earlier zoning arrangement that reserved the position for Adamawa Central zone.

Besides, Fintiri, from the same zone as Ngilari, is also believed to be uncomfortable with the zoning arrangement and may contest the governorship election. The question is PDP needs to keep its commitment to people like Nuhu Ribadu who were prevailed upon not to contest the cancelled governorship bye-election.

Meanwhile, the situation in Adamawa remains dicey. Ngilari is not likely to get the party's ticket. If he does, he is unlikely to win.

This serial ends this week. Thanks for reading all, as we keep our ears on the heartbeat of Nigeria politics. We shall inform you if any other governor decides to head this way.

It will be relevant to inform you that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is unhappy with those governors trying to rock the boat in their States, since it will threaten his ambition to coast away at the 2015 General Elections. At a meeting with the PDP governors he had insisted on the presentation of popular candidates, warning that the Party cannot afford to lose any state to the opposition. We wait as events unfold because these times are feverishly exciting!