No fewer than nine governorship candidates in Kaduna State have endorsed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Isa Ashiru, as the consensus candidate ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Under the platform of “the Kaduna State Rescue and Rebuild Gubernatorial Candidates Forum,” they said the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress was a ploy to divide the state along religious lines.
The nine parties are the Young Progressives Party, Action Alliance, Allied People’s Movement, Action People’s Party, All Progressive Grand Alliance, and National Rescue Movement, as well as the leadership of the Accord Party, Action Democratic Party, and Zenith Labour Party.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Monday, the forum’s chairman, who’s also the YPP governorship candidate, Sani Yaya, noted that unlike the APC, which was flying a Muslim-Muslim ticket, the PDP candidate was out to unite a “fractured” state.
He said, “Today, we wish to announce our support and loyalty to Isah Ashiru, the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP. We took this decision after extensive consultation with our party members as well as the good people of Kaduna State.
“This decision is borne out of our genuine desire to have one and only one indivisible state, irrespective of tribal or religious differences, and we are confident that Isah Ashiru is the only candidate who will unify the state.
“On this note, myself, Sani Yaya, the gubernatorial candidate of the YPP, and candidates of AA, APM, APP, APGA, and NRM, as well as the leadership of the Accord Party, ADP, and ZLP, have today, March 6, 2023, wished to endorse His Excellency, Isah Ashiru (Sarkin Bai Zazzau), and His Excellency, Dr. John Ayuba, as our consensus candidates.
“Therefore, we urge the good people of Kaduna State to come out en masse on March 11, 2023, to vote for Ashiru/Ayuba for a better Kaduna State.”
But in a related development, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Kaduna State, Jonathan Asake, on Monday, said the party never entered into any alliance with the PDP for the purpose of contesting Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
The governorship candidate said it became necessary to clarify in view of the rumour making the rounds that he had formed an alliance with the main opposition party in the state.
Asake while, addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the state capital on Monday, urged his supporters to disregard the rumour as there was no iota of truth in it.
Asake, a former House of Representatives member, said, “It is complete lies fabricated to undermine the Labour Party and my candidature by the PDP. There’s no such time that I have been contacted or my party, the Labour Party, for the purpose of an alliance or stepping down.
“So, I want to clarify today that the Labour Party and all its organs in the state, from the state to the LGA, ward and to the polling unit, are fully prepared for the March 11, 2023 elections that would bring up governors and members of the state House of Assembly in all our 34 state constituencies.
“And I as a candidate, I am also fully prepared for this election. We have campaigned, consulted and mobilised and have gone through all the 23 LGAs, 255 wards of the state.”
