PAS denies snubbing sole Johor rep who bucked party to run as independent

JOHOR BARU, Feb 27 — Johor PAS claimed it did not sideline former Bukit Pasir state assemblyman Najib Lep who announced his independent defence of the seat yesterday, and that he was offered another constituency to contest.

Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Husin claimed the party instead wanted to send Najib to a constituency he could gain for the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

He also purported that they party’s decision not to nominate Najib to defend Bukit Pasir did not indicate he was being overlooked by the PAS leadership.

“However, Najib refused and insisted on contesting in the Bukit Pasir state seat, claiming that his strength was in the constituency because he was closer to the locals there.

“As a PAS member, he failed to abide by the party’s central leadership’s decision for him to contest in another seat,” said Abdullah in a press conference held at the Johor PAS headquarters in Bandar Baru Uda here today.

Yesterday, Najib caused controversy when he showed up at the Bukit Pasir state election candidates’ nomination centre in Muar to contest as an independent for the March 12 polls.

The 58-year-old retired armed forces captain was sacked from the party today for contesting its candidate, Muhd Nur Iqbal Abd Razak.

Today, Abdullah claimed Najib was not chosen to defend the seats due to some issues such as his “problems with the state seat’s election machinery and that could ultimately affect PN’s chances of winning.”

Earlier, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man reportedly said Najib’s membership was automatically void for ignoring the party’s decisions.

When contacted by the media, Najib said he had not received any letter informing him of his expulsion.

Prior to the January 22 state legislative assembly dissolution, Najib was the sole PAS representative in the 56-seat state assembly.

He was also known as the older brother to Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamed Nazir Lep.

Bukit Pasir, located in northern Johor in Muar, will see a six-cornered contest with Najib and Johar Siraj as independent hopefuls. They will lock horns with Parti Pejuang Tanah Air’s (Pejuang) Mohd Akhiri Mahmood, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh, Parti Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) Ella Nadira Sabudin and PN’s Muhd Nur Iqbal.

The Election Commission has set March 12 as the polling date for the Johor state election and early voting will be on March 8.

Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballot in this state election. The EC is targeting a 70 per cent voter turnout.