Divisions emerge over Dado’s endorsement for Tana River gubernatorial seat

Divisions have emerged over the parallel endorsement of former interior CAS Hussein Dado and Bura MP Ali Wario to vie for the Tana River gubernatorial seat.

A section of the Orma council of elders has disowned Dado’s validation. Dado, lost the seat in the 2017 General Election to Dhadho Godhana who is seeking a comeback.

Addressing the press in Madogo, the council secretary Osman Gutu described Dado’s endorsement as ‘a a sham, illegitimate and one that did not have the blessing of the elders’.

Gutu who is also the council’s spokesperson’s regretted the decision by the three elders to go against the decision of the majority who endorsed Wario as the sole candidate.

Giving a chronology of how they arrived at picking Wario, Gutu said the process started in October last year when four candidates namely Jillo Algi, Abdullahi Juge, Ali Wario, Hussein Dado and the late Molu Shambaro expressed interest in the seat.

The elders convened a meeting that included clerics, opinion leaders and youth from the entire county on December 3 in Wayu where Jillo and Abdulla agreed to step down but between Wario and Dado, none was willing to back down.

“Both of them gave us (the elders) the mandate to pick one candidate and using powers bestowed upon us we settled on Wario,”Gutu said.

“On February 3, we voted 46 to 4 in favour of Wario. But when a section was sent to Hussein Dado to deliver the verdict, he flatly refused to abide. We tried all we could to persuade him by giving reasons why they had settled on  Wario but he could hear none of it,” he added.

Gutu said the elders had no other option than to endorse Wario in a ceremony held in Bura on Saturday. However, three members excused themselves for personal reasons.

“To our surprise, the three who included the vice Abdalla Bakero were among those who endorsed Dado in a similar ceremony held in Wayu, Galole constituency,” Gutu said.

He said that the stand of the council is that Wario is the community’s flag bearer.

“We shall be going to our people to pass this message and popularize our candidate whom we have also mandated to reach out to other community’s for more votes,” he said.

“Most importantly is that we preach peace and make sure that our community remain united ahead of the August 9 polls. We risk playing into the hands of our competitors if we do the contrary,”Gutu noted.

On his part the Orma ‘King’ Jofle Bonaye said that Hussein Dado had three days to appeal the council’s decision.

“The three days elapsed and the council had no other option other than to declare Wario the candidate and that is what we did in Bura on Saturday,” Jofle said.

Efforts to reach Hussein Dado for comment were not successful as his cell phone was switched off.

Tana River County is inhabited by three major communities namely the Orma, Wardei and the Pokomo.

According to political pundits, any community that produces more than one candidate for any one political seat risks losing it since votes must be split.