Adamu Mu’azu, 58, was unanimously adopted on Sunday night at a meeting attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; Senate President David Mark and all the state Governors elected under the PDP amongst others.
We gathered that Mu’azu was later invited to join the meeting at the Presidential Villa after the leaders had agreed on his choice.
We further gathered that he gave a commitment that he’ll reposition the party and strengthen it ahead of the general elections.
We also gathered from our source, who is a very influential member of the party, that Mu’azu will be unveiled formally on Monday at a Special NEC meeting of the party.
Update:
The meeting started at about 10.pm (local time) inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja and lasted for about 3 hours.
Mu’azu topped about 15 other aspirants for the chairmanship following last week’s forced resignation of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur from the post.
Some of the aspirants included a former member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Mohammed Wakil and the incumbent Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, the two preferred candidates of President Jonathan and his wife, Patience.
Also interested in the position were former Police Affairs Minister, Adamu Maina Waziri; former Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba Aji; former National Chairman of the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), Alhaji Gambo Lawan, Senator Abubakar Mahdi; TETFUND Chairman, Alhaji Musa Babayo; and former Commerce Minister, Alhaji Idris Waziri, amongst others.
Mu’azu was Governor of Bauchi State from 1999-2003. He had earlier worked as a civil servant for the Governments of Kano and Bauchi and became a businessman thereafter before his election as Governor.
He was indicted and banned from holding public office for ten (10) years by a Judicial Commission set up by his successor, Mr. Isa Yuguda, for misappropriating about N20 billion belonging to the Bauchi State Government during his 8 year rule of the state. Though he denied the charges citing the cold war between himself and his successor, Mu’azu fled the country when anti-graft agency, the EFCC, started investigating his tenure.
In October 11, 2010, the agency issued a statement it was still investigating the politician for corruption after a local newspaper reported he had been given a clean bill by the agency.
“We wish to state emphatically that ex-governor Adamu Muazu is still being investigated and as such could not have been cleared of graft allegations against him.
“The former governor who until recently has been out of the country is still expected to honour an invitation to interview a team of operatives investigating the case against him”, the statement said.
The EFCC has however remained mute on the outcome of its investigation and has not charged the former Governor.
In 2011, he was cleared to return to Nigeria by President Jonathan as he moved to build a coalition in the north ahead of the Presidential election and appointed Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), a development that irked anti-corruption activists, prompting two lawyers, Mr. Ogenovo Otemu and Mr. Alexander Oketa, from the firm of Festus Keyamo, to file a suit at the Federal High Court (FHC) Abuja seeking the nullification of his appointment in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/186/2011.
The plaintiffs in an originating summons obtained by news men had asked Justice Adamu Bello to determine as follows: “Whether the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007 is not a valid and binding document on all authorities and persons in Nigeria, including the Defendants, until set aside by a Court of competent jurisdiction.”
“Whether by virtue of the Recommendations and the Bauchi State Government’s position which banned the 1st Defendant from holding public office for a period of ten years and which is contained and/or published in the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007, the 1st Defendant can be appointed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants into any public office until 2019, and “Whether the appointment of the 1st Defendant as Board Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency by 2nd Defendant is not null and void by virtue of the Recommendations and the Bauchi State Government’s position which banned the 1st Defendant from holding public office for a period of ten years and which is contained and/or published in the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007.”
Following Mu’azu’s indictment, the plaintiffs had also sought the following reliefs: “A declaration that the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007 is a valid and binding document on all authorities and persons in Nigeria, including the Defendants, until set aside by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
“A declaration that by virtue of the Recommendations and the Bauchi State Government’s position which banned the 1st Defendant from holding public office for a period of ten years and which is contained and/or published in the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007, the 1st Defendant cannot be appointed into any public office until 2019.
“ A declaration that the appointment of the 1st Defendant as Board Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency by the 2nd Defendant is null and void by virtue of the Recommendations and the Bauchi State Government’s position which banned the 1st Defendant from holding public office for a period of ten years and which is contained and/or published in the Government White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Management of some Ministries, Parastatals, Extra Ministerial Departments of the Public Service of Bauchi State from May, 1999 to May, 2007 and “An order nullifying the appointment of the 1st Respondent by the 2nd Respondent as Board Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.”
