Crisis looms in Kaduna PDP over chairmanship race

By AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Crisis is brewing ahead of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) congresses in Kaduna state, as four of the party’s six chairmanship aspirants on Wednesday denied stepping down for another aspirant.

This was as they alleged that, a ground plan was being carried out by some leaders of the party to scheme them out and endorse another aspirant.

The aspirants, including former state chairman, Chief Abubakar Gaiya Haruna, former House of Representatives member, Hon. Ado Dogo Audu, Hon. Bulus Kajang and Hon. Ashafa Waziri, also decried a Southern Kaduna caucus meeting scheduled for Thursday in the house of a former deputy governor, which they said left out Southern Kaduna leader of the party, Sen. Danjuma La’ah and other prominent PDP members.

Speaking under the auspices of ‘Forum of State Chairmanship Contestants’, spokesman of the Forum, Hon. Ashafa Waziri said under the PDP zoning arrangement, the chairman was zoned to Zone III (Southern Kaduna), secretary to zone II (Central) and vice chairman seat to Zone I (Kaduna North). He said other chairman aspirants are the incumbent chairman, Felix Hassan Hyet and Tanko Rossi.

According to Waziri, “We wish to unequivocally state that we are all in the race and none of us has backed out, withdrawn or stepped down. We urge you to discountenance the malicious rumors being spread by enemies of progress that we have stepped down. We are in the race and will see to the conclusion of this exercise that will culminate in the Congresses, where new officials will be elected to run the affairs of the party.

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“No amount of blackmail, mudslinging, propaganda, false and malicious gossips will make any of us back out of the race. If however, reasons call for that, we will duly inform the press. It’s sad, distressing and unfortunate that a group of people have purportedly called for a meeting in the name of Southern Kaduna Zone three, for tomorrow Thursday, 20th August, 2020, without following the constitutionally approved procedures.

“From intelligence report received, the meeting is being orchestrated to illegally endorse a particular candidate and claim it’s the decision of the entire Southern Kaduna leadership. We as chairmanship contestants, who are critical stakeholders in the process, were not invited and we have it on good authority that the Hatcher’s of the meeting intend to claim that we have stepped down from the contest and thereafter announce the adoption of a particular candidate.

“If that happens tomorrow, that will be the height of rascality and impunity, and such act can only be carried out by disgruntled and undemocratic bunch of desperados with incurable lust to grab power through the back door in the most uncivilized and barbaric manner, via a strange and illegal consensus option, unknown to the constitution of the PDP.

“We are dealing with people adorned in false messianic robes seeking to deceive the people with an agenda of love and concern for Zone III, in adopting a consensus candidate. How can an adoption of a consensus candidate be achieved without the other contestants involved in the negotiations? We are not party to this orchestrated illegal meeting, because it remains cosmetic, hypocritical and hollow, and unknown to the ideals and principles of the PDP.

“As long as any meeting of the Southern Senatorial Zone is not conveyed by the highest political office holder in the Zone, and indeed the whole state, Senator Danjuma Tella Laah, such a meeting is illegal and any decision thereafter taken is null and void, we are therefore compelled to express our strong reservations on the present state of affairs in our Party in Zone 3 where meetings will be called and the conveners will deliberately exclude the constitutionally recognized leader, Senator DANJUMA Laah.”

The Forum members were accompanied by former chairman house committee on Sports, Hon Geoffrey Gaiya, former deputy speaker and ex-leader, Kaduna State House of Assembly, Dr Dogata Mato and Hon. Bashir Idris Zango Aya respectively, Hon. Manir Waziri leader among others.