Former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has submitted his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chairmanship nomination form.

The former minister was at the Legacy House, PDP presidential campaign office at Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, a few hours after former Jigawa State governor Alhaji Sule Lamido threatened to sue the party for denying him the nomination form.

Lamido was at Wadata Plaza, the PDP National Secretariat at Wuse district of Abuja in the morning, but was told by the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and the National Organising Secretary, Capt Umar Bature (retd.), that they had no information about the sale of nomination forms.

Umar Sani, spokesperson of former Vice President Namadi Sambo, who spoke on behalf of Turaki to journalists after the submission of his form, said the former minister’s form “has been duly acknowledged” by the PDP National Convention Organising Committee (NCOC).

“So what we are awaiting now is for the party to invite Kabiru Tanimu Turaki for screening,” Sani stated.

According to him, the sale of nomination forms has closed, arguing that if Lamido went to “Wadata looking for forms, he went to the wrong place, because the party has stipulated which day you are supposed to go and buy forms, and which day you are supposed to submit forms.

“Our own business is that we have prepared the form, we have followed all due process, and we have submitted the form.”

The former presidential spokesperson explained that the party has the power to decide when to start and end the sale of nomination forms “as provided by the latest judgement of the Supreme Court.”

Turaki was last week adopted by the PDP Northern leader as the consensus candidate for the National Chairmanship position.

Umar Sani said Zamfara State governor Dauda Lawal, whom he described as “the chief stakeholder” of PDP in the North West, was aligned with the choice of Turaki as consensus chairmanship candidate of the party.

“Consultations have been done because there was a meeting. It was not something that was announced. A meeting was held with all the relevant stakeholders in all the states in the North, adequately represented,” he added.

He described Turaki as a true party man who knows the internal workings of the PDP.

“He has always been in the party for a long time, and he has always provided his contributions where needed, both legal, financial, and otherwise,” he said.

Sani expressed the confidence that if he becomes the National Chairman, the former minister “will put the party on a sound footing because he is neutral.

“This is what the governor is talking about. He is neither with Wike nor the Governors’ Forum.

“He is an independent-minded person, and we hope that he will bring his wealth of experience, which he has gathered over the years, both as a legal practitioner, as a former Minister of Special Duties.”