John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Coalition of Southern Kaduna Nationalities (CSKN) yesterday asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna North to explain the dismal performance of the party in their respective domains during the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections in Kaduna state.
The coalition lamented that former National Caretaker Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; the state’s former governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero; Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and the PDP Governorship Candidate, Hon. Isa Ashiru were all from Kaduna North, but could not deliver their local government areas (LGAs).
The leader of the coalition, Dr. Yusuf Gandu Magaji expressed the concern at a news conference he addressed yesterday, saying he was disenchanted with the PDP in Kaduna North and demanding explanation to what led to their shameful defeat.
The APC won the presidential election in 14 LGAs, mainly in the Kaduna Central and North with 993, 445 votes while the PDP won in nine LGAs, mainly in the southern part of the state, polling 649,612.
In the senatorial contest, the APC won the Kaduna North and Kaduna Central while the PDP won Kaduna South.
The APC also won 11 of the 16 Federal Constituencies while the PDP won four. The election in one constituency was inconclusive.
At the conference yesterday, Magaji said said the people of Southern Kaduna “will not hesitate to align with another party, including the ruling APC, if the PDP leaders will not explain what led to the woeful performance of the party in the northern part of the state during the presidential election.”
He said unless the party leaders explain the circumstances that led to their defeat in their localities within 24 hours, the group might be left with no option than to shift loyalty to another party.
Magani said the Southern Kaduna nationalities “are disenchanted by the voting pattern as revealed by the results from Zone one. We believe that there is a betrayal of confidence and trust among PDP stalwarts who can no longer be trusted.”
He notes that the results of the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections, left much to be desired, saying the results from Kaduna North was particularly shocking and that the Southern Kaduna people are reconsidering their longstanding marriage and commitment to the PDP.
Mahaji said the result “shows that PDP won overwhelming in the Southern Senatorial zone. This stresses a fact that the zone remained faithful and voted for the party en mass. However, in a sharp contrast, the party performed woefully in Zone one as their loyalty was shifted to APC.
”The key issue here is that most of the party heavy weights and those who benefitted during the PDP reign concentrate in Zone 1, yet they failed to deliver their wards to the party. We view this as a betrayal of the Presidential candidate in contrast to the bond which questions our continuous loyalty to the party.
“We are forced to re-examine our commitment to the party. As such, we can no longer guarantee our votes in the gubernatorial elections at the moment by virtue of the insincerity and inconsistency in Zone I,” Mahaji explained.
According to Mahaji, the CSKN demands from Zone one a concrete and convincing explanation within 24 hours as a matter of urgency, on why Zone 3 should not negotiate with another viable political party for the governorship elections.
Mahaji said failure “to respond within this time frame will make us to begin negotiations with the party of our choice that can be trusted. We have capacity to turn our votes elsewhere overnight, especially to a candidate that can honour agreements.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we have already set up a team of young, vibrant and dynamic but promising citizens to begin the process of negotiation should the PDP fails in convincing us otherwise.
“This team of young men chosen is by virtue of their social standing, progressive tendencies, patriotism and commitment to the geopolitical zone.”
