***Insists on staying put in the Party despite manipulation of his election
The Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi, representing Niger North Senatorial District has debunked the rumor making the rounds that he has defected from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) following the alleged manipulation of the May 28 Senatorial primary election.
Sabi in a statement by the Director General of his campaign organization, Mallam Mohammed Garba Danladi, a copy of which was made available to Newsmen in Minna on Sunday, said he remains a member of the APC as he has no intention of defect from the party no matter the circumstances that surrounded “the heavily manipulated” Senatorial primary election of Niger North.
Recall that the Deputy Chief Whip had after the primary election, petitioned APC Legislative Election Appeal Committee for Niger North Senatorial District over the outcome of the primary election which he alleged was heavily manipulated to ensure the emergence of the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, for which he had called for the cancellation of the exercise.
The Senator in the five page letter of petition which he personally signed and addressed to the Chairman, APC Legislative Election Appeal Committee for Niger North Senatorial District, described the exercise as a complete violation of the guidelines and procedures for the conduct of the party primaries and the electoral act 2022 and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Senator Sabi in the petition called for a legal, free and fair primary election where the will of the people will not be coerced nor manipulated but freely conducted inline with the party’s guidelines and procedures.
He pointed out that what took place in the primary election was nothing but “inglorious and shameful charade”, all in the name of imposing a sitting governor on the People as their senator.
However while debunking his defection rumor, the statement quoted him to have said, “I want to categorically state here that the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate is still in APC and shall remain in APC”.
Senator Sabi while appealing to the National, state and local government Leadership of the party and his supporters to disregard any form of information or rumor regarding his defection, maintained that regardless of the out come of his petition before the Election Appeal Committee, he will not defect from the party.
“I will not only remain in the party, I will work for the victory of the party at all levels in the forthcoming 2023 general election. I am a loyal member of the party, and will use all the available internal mechanisms to ensure that justice is done”, he submitted.