Ex-NERC boss, Sam Amadi, declines PDP's appointment into Atiku's campaign

Former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, has declined an appointment to the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Amadi said his decision to decline the appointment and abstain from
participating in the campaign stemmed from the conflicts of interest from various responsibilities he holds as a leader.

Mr Amadi was one of the 17 members recently appointed as directors to the National Campaign Management Committee (NCMC).

The NCMC is the administrative arm of the PCC.

The appointments were done by the party’s PCC headed by Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.

In a letter dated 10 October and addressed to Mr Tambuwal, the former NERC boss said he belongs to different platforms where political neutrality and objectivity are required of him.

One such platform is the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts (ASSPT) where he said as a Director, he bears the responsibility to lead a group of intellectuals and scholars of diverse political and ideological stripes with a commitment to rethink the nature of the social, political, and economic crises of statehood in Africa, and to develop new ideas and policies to transform Nigeria and other African societies.

Another platform is the Political and Strategy Committee of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

As the secretary of the committee, Mr Amadi explained, he bears the responsibility to support other distinguished Christian leaders to guide the leadership of the Christian community to work together with leaders of other faiths to fashion a common agenda for justice, freedom, unity, and prosperity of the Nigerian state.

“Members of the committee have different political views and interests and my leadership needs to be non-partisan in order to be effective. An acceptance
of this appointment will undermine the neutrality expected of my standing and
membership of the committee, ” he said.

He also said as an analyst on Arise News, his role requires non-partisanship.

“Whereas as a policy expert, I am free to offer ideas and insights to a presidential campaign, I believe that the level of objectivity I am identified with in these strategic roles will be compromised if I am to become a director of a political party’s presidential campaign,” part of the statement read.

Mr Amadi regretted that Nigeria is not yet at the stage where non-partisans can be coopted into presidential campaigns to offer professional services without compromising their objectivity and intellectual neutrality.

His rejection, he said, is in no way a vote of no confidence in the PDP presidential campaign or rejection of the virtues of the party members.

It is not clear if the PDP will make another appointment to replace Mr Amadi in the council tasked with the mandate of running the campaign of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for the 25 February poll.

The party kicked off its presidential campaign rallies on Monday in Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom State capital, South-south Nigeria.