Immediate past legal adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa Barr. Pwamaddi Shagnah and the immediate past organizing secretary of the party, Ahmed Lawal have called on those agitating for power shift to Adamawa central not to indulge in name dropping as reactions trail the inauguration of the membership of Adamawa Central Zone Advocacy Initiative (CZAI).

Chairman contact and mobilization of CZAI, Malam Usman Iya Abbas who inaugurated the membership of the council yesterday in Yola, had announced Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), his immediate predecessor, Babachir Lawal and Dr. Idi Hong as some of the high flying members of the council.

But reacting to the development, Shagnah and Lawal reject the inclusion of the trio saying they are political fathers and national leaders of the party who should not be associated with mundane and parochial tendencies.

They noted that if allowed to sail through, such “undemocratic tendency” may lead to the hoisting of an unpopular candidate on the party with severe consequences.

Reacting, Barr. Shagnah Pwamaddi said the inclusion of Mustapha and Babachir is not done in good faith adding that as national leaders of APC with network of friends and associates across the length and breadth of Nigeria, their role is to ensure all are carried along in the political process in line with accepted democratic norms.

According to him, both Mustapha and Babachir are fathers to all the three senatorial districts noting that dropping their names in their absence in a meeting of such magnitude is not good for the party as such action may reduce them to local politicians.

Pwamaddi noted that what should happen in a normal democratic setting is to allow the three zones of the state to present credible, qualified, sellable, electable, and resourceful candidates from any of the 21 LGA’S in Adamawa State to favorably contest for the Governorship of the state in a free, fair and transparent Primaries of the party coming up in months.

He believed that CZAI is using the name of notable party men to asserts its credibility wondering where will Babachir, and Boss go to lobby when the party is one.

“Does it mean APC should support anyone from the central zone who is not fit, capable, and sellable to win an election? CZAI should holistically look at party interest of all the three zones with a true sense of internal Democracy, how a good candidate will emerge is my concern which angle of the state he comes from is not my concern. Let him or her come from anywhere in the state for all I care,” Shannah said.

He noted that the Central Zone being the host of the government house and seat of power has benefitted more than any part of the state since the days of Gongola, noting that it will be trite for people to ignore such advantage in furtherance of some primordial and unwholesome democratic practices.

“There is no doubt the Central Zone like the North and the South has all it takes to rule Adamawa State, in a democratic clime like ours, power is not just given or ceded but power is derived from the populace with whom the sovereignty lies.

” The mandate of governing Adamawa State lies with the populace from the 21 LGAs and whoever desires to govern the state should directly go round and seek for the mandate from the people. It is important to note that Babachir, Boss, Idi Hong, and others are all fathers of Adamawa State and as respected elder statesmen, their mission is to produce the most popular candidate that will unseat PDP at the Dougeire Government House come March 2023,” he said.

On his part, Ahmed Lawan, said, the desire of the majority of the APC members from the Northern, Central, and Southern Senatorial Districts is to produce a popular candidate from any part of the state without recourse to his zone or any other primordial inclination.

He noted that the aim of patriotic APC members is to ensure that the party wrests power from PDP come 2023.

“We call on all critical stakeholders and members of the APC from the 21 LGAs to work assiduously towards producing a Governorship candidate without recourse to zone, religion, section, or ethnic leaning,” Lawan said.

He called on APC stakeholders from the central zone to think twice about the fact that the position of SGF was twice in the center who other zones are comfortable with because is all about Adamawa APC and the interest is for all people.

He said lobbying for the zone for the gubernatorial seat will not work because it negates the principles of internal democracy and doesn’t suggest they are good politicians for the sake of APC and any party Man.

“Many would want to ask that why is Boss and Babachir not in the meeting if truly they are selected as committee members to lobby for a seat of power? I think they should be part of anything good. For me they don’t lobby for power, power is sought for through an encompassing democratic means.

“So they cannot be the Land Lords and at the same time tenants. They have all the federal appointments, the Minister, SGF, aides and power brokers at the villa yet want to produce a Governor again. There is no justice for the other zones for God’s sake,” Lawan said.