Francis Sardauna in Katsina
A former Katsina State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Shehu Shema, and 10 out of the 14-member working committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, boycotted the mega rally of the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the state.
Investigation by THISDAY at the Muhammadu Dikko stadium, venue of the rally, revealed that 19 out of the 34 local government chairmen of the opposition PDP believed to be Shema’s loyalists, were also absent at the event.
Shema, who has been holding series of meetings with critical stakeholders at his residence in Katsina over the 2023 elections, may work against the state governorship candidate of the party, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke, because of their long-standing feud.
Also, the former chairman of the party, Hon. Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, and the embattled acting chairman of the party, Alhaji Salisu Uli, as well as their teeming supporters shun the PDP mega rally.
Their reasons for boycotting the campaign rally, THISDAY gathered, may not be unconnected with the leadership tussle rocking the party in the state that apparently metamorphosed into factions.
Reacting to the development in a telephone interview, Uli said they boycotted the rally because of the “disrespect” accorded to the leader of the party (Shema) by the state’s governorship candidate, Danmarke.
He said: “I want to inform you that 10 out of the 14 state working committee members of our party, as well as 19 out of the 34 local government chairmen have boycotted today’s (Tuesday) rally because Lado and his supporters have disrespected the leader of the party, Ibrahim Shehu Shema.”
Asked whether they are in support of Atiku, Uli said: “We are fully in support of our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and we are going to vote for him in 2023.”
But the state chairman of the PDP presidential and governorship campaign, Ibrahim Umar-Tsauri, told journalists at a press conference on Sunday that the party remained one united big family and was ready to unseat the ruling APC in the state.
Also, a former Secretary to the State Government, Dr Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, who is the director-general of the campaign council, claimed they have resolved their eight-year-old feud with the erstwhile governor, Shema.
