A former Minister of Information under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Labaran Maku, has said his return to the Peoples Democratic Party to contest the governorship seat would take Nasarawa State from All Progressives Congress’ control in the next year’s elections.
Maku said this at the PDP national secretariat, Abuja on Saturday when he returned filled copies of his nomination and expression of interest forms.
The former minister who earlier defected to the All Progressive Grand Alliance hinged his decision on the PDP’s reluctance to give him justice when his mandates were allegedly stolen through doctored election results in the Nasarawa state governorship election in 2015.
Fielding questions from the journalists on his return to the PDP, he said: “I must say that I am back here today, first of all, to let all Nigerians know I am back to the PDP. It was clear in my state that my absence from PDP reduced the functions of the party. Since I left, the party has lost ground. After a lot of considerations and conversations led by the state working committee and my friends and associates all over Nigeria, I returned to the PDP.
“So I am back home in PDP, not because APGA is bad, APGA offered me the opportunity to continue our struggles but I am back to this party, it is a broader platform. I am back, first of all, to continue to serve the party, to contribute my quota to the progress and victory of PDP at all levels and as you know me, once I am in a process, I give all the efforts that God has given me.
“And as I return to this party, Nasarawa state is turning 360 degrees towards PDP because everybody knows that in Nasarawa state, PDP is the actual party now on the ground. By the grace of God, come 2023, PDP will return to power in Nasarawa state.”
He lamented that his earlier exit from the PDP stemmed from the party’s failure to resolve his contestations with the results of the 2015 elections in the state.
“Unfortunately, when we vied for the governorship in 2015, some tricks took place, and I believe, I wouldn’t say I am the one sabotaged but I think the party was sabotaged such that the PDP will not win the governorship election.
“I then wrote to this party to look into my case, nobody even replied to my protest, there was not even a reply to call me to say that ‘look, sorry, we have seen your protest about the way the primaries were held and manipulations that took place,’ they didn’t even respond,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, a governorship aspirant from Plateau State, Brigadier-General John Sura (retd.), who was at Wadata Plaza to submit his expression of interest and nomination forms told journalists that the PDP stands a 95 per cent chance to win the governorship seat, despite an incumbent opposition party.
Responding to a question in this regard, Sura said: “I want to assure you that the chance is as high as 95 per cent. First, to Nigerians from the national level. We’ve all been demarcated. We’ve all been impoverished; we also have suffered so many unfolding in the country.
“So the replication of it is what is happening on the Plateau. So, if we have gotten a governor that is under-developing the State, certainly you should rest assured that Plateaunians will not be ready to have infrastructural decay again.
“Today in Plateau, the PDP is the bride of every son and daughter of the state. APC, yes in government but absolutely nothing to write home about.”
Fielding questions from our correspondent, Sura urged support for the presidential pardon recently granted to a past governor of the state, Joshua Dariye, who was incarcerated for siphoning N2bn of public funds during his term from 1999 and 2007.
“Actually, the law is meant to punish, and at the same time to reprimand. When you have already punished somebody, you do not need to take a sledgehammer to kill the person. For posterity’s sake, I think the punishment has gone that far.
“And again, it has served as a deterrent to those who are in government who also intend to come in because firstly, if not for the punishments, the name is already dented. And even after the pardon, again, there could be some lacuna here and there. I will also want to look at it from the point that nobody’s perfect on earth,” he said.
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