Niger: Gov Aliyu Can’t Stop Me – Deputy Gov

The deputy governor of Niger State and gubernatorial candidate, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, has said that his party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the electorate would determine his emergence as governor and not his boss, Governor Babangida Aliyu.

The deputy governor, who stated this yesterday when he came to submit his gubernatorial forms at the national secretariat of the PDP, described the state as a democratic society where people are given the chance to contest, addng that democracy in the country had matured.

“Let me say that I do not think that it is by design that governors do not hand over to their deputies. Let me also tell you that there is remarkable difference between 1999 and 2014.

“You see our democracy has matured to the extent that people determine who succeeds someone in office and not really an individual. I believe that as a democrat, I am presenting myself, first and foremost, to the electoral college of my party, that is, the state congress, and I assure that I will emerge victorious; so in that case, it is not the governor that determines whether I succeed him or not but the general electoral body in the state.”

He, however, hailed the recent PDP ward congresses in Niger State, saying “for my state it was a very remarkable display of democracy in action.”

Also, a governorship aspirant from Katsina State, Arch. Ahmed Aminu Yar’Adua, yesterday said former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will not win in 2015 just like his previous attempts at emerging president of Nigeria.

After submitting his form at the PDP national headquarters, Yar’Adua said “this is not the first time, this will be the third time Gen Buhari is contesting; all in opposition to PDP, so nothing has changed.

“He contested two times, this is the third time, still our party, the PDP won. In 1999, our party won, we won the second part of the late President, we won in 2007, we won in 2011 and I believe we will win in 2015.”