From Olanrewaju Lawal Birnin Kebbi
The main opposition political party in Kebbi State, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared her readiness to participate in the 31 August,2024 local government council election in all the 21 Councils and 255 Wards in the state.
PDP, made their position known after a stakeholders meeting held in Birnin Kebbi which was attended by Senator Adamu Aliero,Senator Abdullahi Yahyah, Senator Musa Maidoki and all the elected House of Representatives members as well as House of Assembly members elected under the platform of the party.
While briefing newsmen about the decisions and resolutions reached at the meeting, a Chieftain of the party,Alhaji Sani Dododo disclosed that PDP discussed on the issues which bothered on their participation in the Council poll, rumour of the defection of Senator Adamu Aliero to APC,and town hall meetings to be held by all elected Senators, House of Representative members and House of Assembly members of the party at their various Constituencies.
According to him, “after an extensive deliberations, we reached an agreement that our party, PDP will participate fully in the forthcoming local government council election coming up on the 31 August,2024 irrespective of what will happen.
“Another issue will discussed is that, all the three Senators,four House of Representatives and four House of Assembly members elected under the platform of the PDP are going to be holding town hall meeting at their various Constituencies to brief their people what they have done for them and what they are currently doing.
“This will give them the opportunity to brief them on what they have done on roads,water and other things.
“Again, there is rumour going round that Senator Adamu Aliero is going to defect from PDP to APC. Today, Senator Aliero thrashed the rumour and maintaining that he is still active member of the PDP and there is no truth in the rumour. He therefore said, by God’s willing,he will continue to be member of the PDP “.
While speaking on the charges of nomination forms and other fees by the KSIEC, Dododo insisted that their party has resolved that they have accepted the fees of N500,000 for Chairmanships,N300,000 for the Vice-chairman position and N200,000 for Councilors.
He explained that, the only reservations they have was that KSIEC, Security Agencies and the Judiciary should be fair to all political parties that are going to participate in the Council poll.
“We have learnt lesson from the past. These charges would not deter us from participating in the election. We are in the business and business is the risk. PDP has been participating in all the elections since 1999 and therefore,we are ready to participate in this forthcoming election irrespective of what will happen.
“We are just appealing to the KSIEC, security agencies and judiciary to be fair to all the political parties that will participate in the election. We are appealing to the judiciary to do justice to APC, PDP and other political parties that are going to partake in the election. That is our prayers”, he said.