The senator representing Adamawa Northern Senatorial District , Binta Garba , has said the Peoples Democratic Party , in the twilight of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan , approached her , as the Chairman of the Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress , to dump the APC.
Garba said she was offered over N300 m by the PDP so that Governor Jibrilla Bindow, the then candidate of the APC, would not scale through .
She said her refusal to accept the bait from the then ruling party averted a crisis with the party gaining victory at the governorship polls and the three senatorial seats in the state .
The senator, who spoke ahead of the APC primary , urged party members to re – elect President Muhammadu Buhari , Governor Jibrilla Bindow and herself again .
She said , “When I was chairman of the APC in the state, the PDP approached me to ditch the party and the candidate of the party then ( Bindow), who later became governor. They said he (Bindow ) would not go anywhere and that I should leave the APC and work for the PDP and offered me not N100 m , not even N200 m nor even N 300 m but far more than that .
“ But I rejected the money and the offer and I told them that if I could not be bought during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo , so I did not see how anybody would buy my conscience . ”
Garba , who is attempting to return to the Senate , is facing the challenge of seven male aspirants, including a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to former President Goodluck Jonathan , Ali Gulak ; a former Director – General , Nigerian Law School , Dr Mamman Tahir; Executive Chairman , Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency , Dr Abdullahi Belel ; and the House of Representatives member representing Michika and Madagali Federal Constituency, Adamu Kamale.
She added that the perception of her as a “ strong woman” by the founding members of the APC in Adamawa State played a key role in her emergence as the first female chairman of a major political party .
She said she remained true to the confidence reposed in her by not betraying the stakeholders and members of the party .
Copyright PUNCH .
