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<\/div>\nSuleiman Shahbal\u2019s decision to quit the Mombasa governor race has attracted praise and criticism amid reports that the deal was brokered by President Uhuru Kenyatta.\n<\/p>\n
Leaders allied to Abdulswamad Nassir, the ODM aspirant in the race, said the decision will lead to unity in the party. But Shahbal\u2019s supporters said it will not be an automatic shift of allegiance.\n<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Shahbal\u2019s head of campaign secretariat Idris Abdulrahman said he will explain to his supporters on Tuesday why he quit and rally them behind the ODM flag bearer. <\/p>\n
\u201cShahbal knows that Mombasa residents\u2019 interests are bigger than his ambitions. He believes change in Mombasa can only come if ODM wins both local seats and the presidency,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of Shahbal\u2019s supporters and campaign team are disappointed but we must now rally behind Abdulswamad Nassir and make sure that he wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, a source privy to the talks that ended the two-week impasse over the ODM Mombasa governor ticket, said Shahbal had rejected calls to step down.\n<\/p>\n
Raila chaired the talks in Nairobi but it became clear that Shahbal would not budge, a decision was made to involve Uhuru who is the Azimio chair. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter it was clear that he would not budge. Baba (Raila) made a call to President Uhuru who talked Shahbal out of the race. He had no option really,\u201d said the source privy to the talks.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe found himself between the sitting president and the possibly incoming president. He had no option. He is also a businessman whose empire thrives on the goodwill of the government.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In his statement, Shahbal alluded to the president\u2019s intervention saying he consulted him before he reached the decision to quit the race. He has accepted the offer to join Raila\u2019s campaign team.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter thoughtful consideration of the needs and aspirations of the people of Mombasa, long deliberations with my party leader Raila Odinga and advice from the chair of Azimio la Umoja Coalition, President Uhuru Kenyatta, I hereby announce that I have dropped my governor bid in support of my brother Abdulswamad Nassir,\u201d said Shahbal. \n<\/p>\n
Uhuru and Raila reportedly told Shahbal that his hardline stance had created divisions among ODM supporters and that he should step down given that three opinion polls had shown Nassir was ahead. <\/p>\n
In an interview before the talks, Shahbal rejected the result of the polls insisting that ODM should use universal suffrage to select its candidate in Mombasa. He warned that shambolic ODM nominations would adversely affect Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential votes at the Coast in August.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot sit in a boardroom and decide who runs and who does not. Aspirants have campaigned for the past three years because they have a burning desire to change the county even at the ward levels. This cannot work,\u201d said Shahbal.\n<\/p>\n
The businessman, however, had said he would agree to consensus-building based on serious and open talks, but not to cooked opinion polls with numbers that are statistically impossible.\n<\/p>\n
But Nassir said the ODM National Delegates Conference (NDC) had ratified the use of opinion polls as the second option for selecting candidates if consensus failed, and the party should stick to it.\n<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Jubilee candidate for Changamwe constituency Abdi Daib described Shahbal\u2019s decision as heroic. He said Shahbal commands a huge following that should not be taken for granted.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI support Nassir but Shahbal has a huge following. Nassir should now move fast and make sure that those supporters feel welcomed in his camp,\u201d said Daib.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the criticism continues to dog UDA nominations in Mombasa. Over 30 aspirants have now threatened to run as independent candidates.\n<\/p>\n
Joho\u2019s kin, Mohamed Amir, who was seeking UDA ticket for Mombasa senate and Ahmed Siyat who ran for Kongowea Ward seat, said the primaries were marred by irregularities. \u201cIt is clear that some people were keen to see some aspirants out. We have now decided to run as independent candidates and take our supporters elsewhere if the party does not intervene,\u201d said Amir.\n<\/p>\n
Siyat said most UDA members were not allowed to vote after their names were found missing from the party membership register. \u201cIt was actually a scheme to deny our supporters a chance to choose their preferred candidates,\u201d said Siyat who said he will also run as an independent candidate.\n<\/p>\n
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RELATED VIDEOS<\/span><\/h4><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shahbal alluded to Uhuru\u2019s intervention saying he consulted him before deciding to quit. Suleiman Shahbal\u2019s decision to quit the Mombasa governor race has attracted praise and criticism amid reports that the deal was brokered by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Leaders allied to Abdulswamad Nassir, the ODM aspirant in the race, said the decision will lead to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1058619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1058618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kenya-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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