A group under the auspices of Gombe PDP Women Solidarity Assembly has declared its support for the party’s 2023 governorship candidate Hon Mohammed Jibril Barde, even as it disowns former women ex-officio members who threatened to defect from the party.
Sources in Gombe said the incumbent governor and his cabinet officials are now under fire as viral media attack on the PDP governorship candidate increases by the day.
It would be recalled that about five former female ex-officio members led by Miss Mole Istifanus, who was introduced to the PDP by an aspirant, Alhaji Jamil Gwamna, threatened to leave the party alleging neglect while addressing a press conference in Gombe state recently.
But in a swift response the Chairperson of the Gombe PDP Women Solidarity Assembly Barrister Hadiza Musa said the stance of the group, led by Miss Mole Istifanus, was “an empty threat against Barde by renegade politicians, sponsored by defeated candidates in the last PDP primaries, who have lack the spirit of sportsmanship”.
The group expressed surprised that Mole Istifanus, who was allegedly declared wanted by officials of Gombe HIV/AIDS Rehabilitation Centre, “suddenly resurfaced with a sponsored campaign of calumny against our PDP candidate”.
Barrister Hadiza made her group’s position known while fielding questions from newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday.
She explained that “if Barde, our Gombe 2023 PDP governorship candidate, had not been a strong-willed politician, given the gang-up by his rivals and their well-oiled media propaganda machine, he would have by now lost interest in the race.
“I think his rivals, who are operating from the shadows, are already losing out in this game while expending resources, time and energy without success”, she said.
She said those ganging up against the PDP governorship flagbearer, are operating from the shadows with a multimillion naira budget, adding that “they will fail woefully because the masses, who are the majority voters in Gombe state, are solidly behind Hon Barde; don’t forget that we received massive number of women defectors to the PDP”.
According to latest media reports, the Gombe state PDP started receiving defectors from the APC soon after Barde emerged the party’s flagbearer for the 2023 governorship race.