The immediate past National President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Jonathan Asake, has emerged as the Labour Party governorship candidate in the state.
Asake, a former House of Representatives member, had officially stepped down as the SOKAPU boss to join the governorship race.
Asake had said he officially stepped down and joined to governorship race to answer the clarion call and join the race to Sir Ibrahim Sir Kashim Government House come 2023.
“What you’ve been hearing is now confirmed that I have answered a clarion call by people and by the larger people of Kaduna State that I should contest for the Gubernatorial election come 2023,” he had said.
In a substitution primary supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission held at the NUT Hotel, Kaduna, Asake emerged as the LP Governorship candidate through affirmation by the party’s delegates from across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
This was after the earlier “holder” of the party’s Governorship ticket in the state, Mr. Shunom Adiga, stepped down for the former House of Representatives member.
In a swift move, a former Majority Leader in the House of Assembly and a former Commissioner of Works in Kaduna State, Hon. Bashir Idris Aliyu, was picked as the running mate to the LP governorship candidate for the 2023 Governorship race in the state.
Flanked by the Party’s Senatorial candidate for the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District, Michael Ayuba-Auta and his running mate, the Governorship hopeful, declared that the party was determined to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress in the state and bring it back its golden days.
Asake, appreciating the delegates and party leaders, promised to “be governor to everybody irrespective of where you come from or your religion” if elected the next governor of the state come 2023.
The former lawmaker also promised to roll out a blueprint to tackle the intractable insecurity across the state while also adding that he would form a unity government to unite the diverse people of the state.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the event, he said, “I feel excited, but I also see the stepping down of my co-contestant as a sign of the kind government we are going to form; a government of unity; a government of stepping down our individual and personal interest for the interest of the general public.
“When we come, 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.
“I have worked as the national president of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, where I often visit communities that have been attacked and displaced. It has also been happening over all the state, not only in Kaduna but all over the country.”
