The incumbent member representing Ardo-Kola, Lau and Kerim-Lamido Federal Constituency, Danladi Baido, has clinched the Social Democratic Party (SDP) gubernatorial ticket for the 2023 election in Taraba State.
Baido, it would be recalled, dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a few weeks before the governorship primaries of the party due to what he described as “lack of internal democracy.”
Announcing the result in Jalingo, the Returning Officer, Hajiya Mariam Batubo, said Baido, the sole candidate in the election, was declared the winner and returned elected.
Mariam, who also doubles as the National Women Leader of the SDP, said 600 delegates were accredited for the election and 535 votes were cast.
While 532 votes out of the 535 votes cast were valid, 3, according to her, were invalid.
Describing the exercise as “free, fair, credible and transparent”, she said “in accordance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines and the SDP constitution, Baido, having scored the highest votes, is declared winner of the election.”
In his acceptance speech, Baido thanked the delegates and his party for finding him worthy of the ticket.
Baido who took his time narrating how he was forcefully injected out of the PDP as a result of “injustice” and lack of “internal democracy”, enjoined eligible voters to endeavor to vote for justice and progress in the general elections.
It could be recalled that Danladi Baido was the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the 2007 election before he was replaced by the late former governor, Danbaba Suntai at the eleventh hour.