John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Kaduna State Labour Party (LP) has nominated former President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake, as its governorship candidate for the 2023 elections.
Asake, a former member of the House of Representatives, recently resigned his position as the SOKAPU president to join the governorship race.
He picked the party’s governorship ticket at a substitution primary election supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kaduna.
The substitution primary was conducted after the holder of the ticket, Shunom Adiga, stepped down.
Asake emerged through affirmation by the party’s delegates from the 23 local government areas of the state.
Shortly after his emergence, Asake announced a former majority leader in the state Assembly and former state Commissioner for Works, Hon. Bashir Aliyu, as his running mate.
Addressing the delegates, Asake declared that the LP expressed optimism that the party would wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and at the federal level.
He said the LP is the only hope to save Nigeria from its present calamities caused by the ruling party.
The candidate promised that if elected, he “will be governor to everybody irrespective of religion and tribe.”
He also promised that he would run an all-inclusive government based on justice, equity and fairness to all sections of the state.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the event, he said: “When we come in, we will ensure inclusiveness in government, justice, fairness for everybody.
“When a leader does this, there will be less rancour. There will be peace, progress, and development. That is the kind of leadership that the Labour Party is throwing up for Nigeria. That is the option that we are coming up with.”
Also speaking, the state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Dahiru Bako, said, the state would experience genuine and positive change if the LP is voted into power.
