Why I left APC — Adamawa PDP guber candidate

The Adamawa State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Maurice Vunobolki, has said that fear of candidate imposition made him retrace his steps from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) back to the PDP.

He said that, having been a victim of imposition in the past, he did not want to face another disappointment in the ruling party, noting that the average voter in Adamawa State does not bow to the interests of political godfathers when casting their ballots.

Vunobolki, who spoke to journalists in Abuja at the weekend, disclosed that the provisions of the Electoral Act, which stipulate that no aspirant can switch parties after purchasing nomination forms, compelled him to return to his former party, the PDP.

Expressing confidence that the PDP would reclaim the governorship of Adamawa State, the chartered accountant-turned-politician said the outgoing governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, was able to deliver significant democratic dividends because of his vision and independence from political godfathers.

Pointing to the inability of the incumbent governor to ensure that his preferred candidate secured the APC governorship ticket for the 2027 elections, Vunobolki said he felt vindicated for not remaining in the party to face what he described as the APC gamble.

He added that having enjoyed the benefits of governance under the Fintiri administration, the people of Adamawa would not support political godsons to become governor, stressing that he is confident of winning because he has no godfather.

“Adamawa people know that I don’t have a godfather. They know that I have been going round the state. I recently campaigned alongside my local government candidates and PDP candidates across the state. No political party did that during the build-up to the local government elections,” he said.

He praised Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s achievements in office, stressing that it was through the governor’s strategic deployment of hunters and community vigilantes that his administration was able to address the insecurity that troubled the state in recent times.

On the likely impact of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential bid on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on the forthcoming Adamawa governorship election, Vunobolki said both Atiku and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, had lost elections in the state in the past.

His words: “In 2014, during the build-up to the 2015 general election, when Atiku Abubakar contested against Muhammadu Buhari and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in the APC presidential primary, Kwankwaso won Adamawa State against Atiku because the voters in Adamawa believe they are independent-minded people and do not subscribe to godfatherism.

“In fact, Kwankwaso won both Kano and Adamawa states, while Waziri, who is from Adamawa, lost the votes of his own delegates.

“The same applies to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. He was the PDP governorship candidate in Adamawa State in 2015 and he also lost. He tried two more times to secure the party’s nomination, but lost again. So, godfathers do not have their way in Adamawa State.”