By Emeka Nze
Abuja
A National Secretary aspirant in the December 9 national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Umar Ibrahim Tsauri, has insisted that the party will defeat President Muhammadu Buhari in Katsina State in the 2019 general elections.
The PDP chieftain, who hails from Katsina, also challenged critics of micro-zoning to test their popularity at the December 9 elective national convention of the party.
According to him, despite coming from the home state of President Buhari, the PDP will defeat APC in the state.
“We don’t need to campaign for that. PDP has done what is supposed to be done by any other political party rightly. We will defeat the President in Katsina State in the next general election,” he said.
Senator Tsauri made the declaration on Thursday in Abuja after submitting his nomination form at the party’s headquarters in Abuja. He added that between 2003 and 2011, the party had been frustrating Buhari’s political ambition in the state.
He spoke against the backdrop of criticisms trailing the micro-zoning of the position to Katsina State by the party in the North West geopolitical zone.
Recall that another aspirant for the position from Kaduna State, Abubakar Mustapha, had kicked against micro-zoning, insisting that it is similar to imposition.
But speaking to journalists after submitting his form, Tsauri who represented Katsina Central in the Senate from 2003 to 2007, called on opponents of micro-zoning to test their popularity at the forth coming convention.
His words: “PDP is a democratic party. So, if a position is zoned to a place, you can contest it. If there is consensus we go for it; if there is no consensus we go to the field.
“The position of National Secretary has been zoned to my zone and I feel I am eligible to contest. I feel largely that I can contribute my quota towards eliminating the challenges facing the party.
“I feel largely that if I come on board, I will make sure that PDP is brought in a balanced position just like before and we will reclaim our mandate from the APC”.
