Can APC wipe out PDP from the North?

As the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja begins hearing in the appeal filed by Governor Darius Ishaku to upturn his removal by the Taraba State Election Petition Tribunal, the question on the lips of many political analysts is: Can the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) survive the attack by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)? After losing power in the 2015 general elections, PDP has watched its stature diminish in a matter of seven months, with many Nigerians raising the fear that there is a plan to turn Nigeria into a one-party state by the APC. Since APC came into power in May, virtually all the judgments given by the election petition tribunals have been against PDP. The governorship poll in Rivers State was annulled by the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal upheld this decision on Wednesday. Chief Nyesom Wike, the governor of the state, has vowed to pursue his case up to the Supreme Court to get justice, but his chances are not bright. The latest PDP state to lose at the election petition and the Appeal Court is Akwa Ibom. Governor Udom Emmanuel is equally heading to the Supreme Court to seek justice. Several PDP federal lawmakers, notably former Senate President David Mark, have also lost their cases at the tribunals. The election in Bayelsa was declared inconclusive and the fate of the PDP governor is uncertain. It is against this background and other developments that many were very critical of the November 7 judgment of the Taraba Election Petition Tribunal annulling the election of Ishaku and ordering that Hajia Aisha Alhassan, the candidate of the APC, should be sworn-in on the grounds that Ishaku was not properly nominated by the PDP in the governorship primary. Besides Taraba, the only other state still in the hands of the PDP in the 18 northern states is Gombe. The others are effectively APC – controlled. The Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar-led tribunal ruled that Ishaku was not properly nominated as PDP’s governorship candidate, pointing out that the party did not conduct its primary in Jalingo, the state capital. The tribunal upheld the testimony of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Head of Election Monitoring Source www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/can-apc-wipe-out-pdp-from-the-north/