Jalil Tafawa Balewa decries PDP’s one-man show Presidential aspirant

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant in the 2015 elections, Dr. Abdul Jhalil Tafawa Balewa has expressed dismay over the way and manner the party is dribbling him over the receipt of the party’s nomination form after he has fully paid the stipulated amount.

“I went to see the financial secretary who told me to just wait and he just locked himself inside his office, he told me I needed to see the treasurer who in turn told me that my own brother, Ahmadu Mu’azu has left an instruction that he is the only one that can approve presidential candidates under the party”, Jhalil said.

Dr. Abdul Jhalil while speaking to pressmen in Bauchi weekend said however that there was nothing like that in the constitution of the PDP for an appointed (not elected) National Chairman of the party to give such directives.

“There is nothing like that in the PDP Constitution that a Chairman, and in this case, this is an appointed chairman, he is just nominated, and that he is the only one that approves who get the nomination form”, Tafawa Balewa disclosed.

The PDP presidential hopeful explained that prior to last Wednesday when he went to the party’s National Secretariat to collect the nomination form, he has paid the stipulated fee of N22 million to join the presidential race under the party.

“I paid N2 million as retention fee and the sum of N20 million for the nomination, I have receipts and teller for both the payments. And the question is when are they going to give me my form?

Jhalil Tafawa Balewa told the media that he will live to see whether or not the one week extension given to him for the collection of the nomination form will be realistic, expressing wonders how the PDP could print only one nomination form for the presidential contest.

“We waited too long because the President was not forthcoming whether he is running or not, I went and paid my money, I went to the party secretariat and asked for the form and they told me that they printed only one, but they did not reject the money, it is still with them”, he cried out.

Also speaking on the issue, chairman of the Bauchi State Youth Movement for Democracy, Mr. Philip Kimsa Gumex expressed dissatisfaction on what he described as the one man show exhibited by the PDP which, he said, is not part of democracy.

“Dr. Abdul Jhalil Tafawa Balewa has paid for his nomination form, he was given so many days for the picking of the form, any day he goes there is one story or the other, and as I’m talking to you now the nomination form has not been released to him”, Gumex said.