VICE Admiral Murtala Nyako, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard-bearer in last Saturday’s governorship election has won back the seat he relinquished two weeks ago, following the Supreme Court judgment on tenure elongation. He polled 302,953 votes out of the 685,103 cast, to defeat four other contestants.

Nyako was declared winner of the election by the returning officer, Professor Mohammed Hamisu Mohammed, from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, declaring also that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate, Mr Markus Gundiri polled 241,023 votes to come second, while General Buba Marwa of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) got 107,546 votes to place third.

The All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) candidate, Alhaji Usman Belel, placed fourth with 3,885 votes, while the only female contestant, Dr Zainab Baba Kwonchi, had 2,846 votes to place fifth.

Professor Mohammed also disclosed that there were 1,843,619 registered voters with a total of 685,103 votes cast and 26,850 votes rejected.

While addressing the press in his private residence, Vice Admiral Nyako said he was happy with the outcome of the election, as he enjoined the citizens of the state to forget the issue of religion and ethnicity.

How Nyako won
Meanwhile, the victory recorded by Nyako was facilitated by the last minute reconciliation by the PDP elders in the state, who had hitherto been working at cross purposes with Nyako

Some hours before the election, elder statesman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had called a meeting of PDP stakeholders which involved former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Professor Jubril Aminu and many others and reminded them of the presidential mandate that the elders should retain Adamawa for the PDP.

Tukur, who co-ordinated the meeting did not allow any one in attendance to whip up sentiment on the alleged inconsistencies of Nyako, but insisted that once the PDP won the election, all efforts would be made to ensure genuine reconciliation among the aggrieved members.

He was said to have begged all present to look beyond the returned governor, stressing that everyone should focus on the PDP as a rallying force in order to have enough space for the interest of members in the state to be properly served.

Four days to the governorship election in the state, President Jonathan had summoned all political stakeholders in the state for a meeting in his office, just as he entreated them to consider the interest of the PDP in the state by not allowing an opposition party to take the state.

All known PDP elders were in attendance at the meeting personally presided over by Jonathan. Those in attendance included Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Abubakar Kawu Baraje; Uche Secondus; Musa Babayo; Atiku Abubakar; Alhaji Bamanga Tukur; Paul Wampana; Isa Saleh; Head of Service, Senator Folasade Bent; Aliyu Idi Hong and Ishayah Balat.

Others included Wilberforce Juta; Paschal Bafyau; Hassan Tukur; Jonathan Zwingina; Dr Umar Ardo; Dahiru Bobo; Adamu Modibo; Aliyu Karma; General Ananiah and the acting governor, Fitri Muhammed.

The meeting with Jonathan, according to insiders, was a very stormy one, as the elders stated their grievances about Nyako, telling Jonathan that the governor did not mean well for PDP stakeholders in the state who worked hard to see him in power.

The president reportedly appealed to all of them to work for a PDP victory.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has congratulated Admiral Nyako on his victory in Saturday’s governorship election in Adamawa State.

Similarly, the PDP has described the victory as significant after a keenly contested race.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, Jonathan urged the governor-elect to receive the fresh mandate given to him by the people of the state for a second term in office as a call to further duty in the service of his people and an immense opportunity to carry forward the policies, projects and programmes initiated during his first term to promote progress and development in the state.

The statement added that the president looked forward to continuing to work harmoniously with Nyako and the government of Adamawa State on the implementation of the Federal Government’s agenda for national transformation.

He commended the PDP National Executive Council (NEC) members, members of the state executive of the party and all stakeholders of the party in the state for working very hard to ensure that Nyako won convincingly on Saturday.

Furthermore, Jonathan congratulated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the nation’s security agencies for the peaceful and successful conduct of the election and urged them to keep up the good work in the other governorship elections scheduled to be held in Bayelsa, Cross River and Sokoto states this month.

A statement issued on the outcome of the Adamawa election, issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Professor Rufai Alkali, in Abuja on Sunday, also said that the acting national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Baraje, congratulated Nyako and his deputy-elect, James Bala Ngilari, on their victory in the election in Adamawa State.

The PDP said, "this significant victory in the keenly contested election, which has been adjudged free and fair by observers, confirms the people's endorsement of Admiral Nyako's gigantic achievements in his previous term in office. It also puts a final seal on the PDP as the most accepted political party in Adamawa State and beyond.”

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written by Layi Olaniyi, February 06, 2012

Gov Nyako, please do not allow people like EX convicts to come around you.

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