By Samuel Ogidan
Abuja
Six governorship aspirants from Katsina state on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said that the highhandedness of Governor Ibrahim Shema may lead to the PDP losing the state.
The aspirants added that the candidate, Engr. Musa Nashuni, he endorsed to take over from him was not popular and beside he is a stranger to Katsina politics.
Speaking on behalf of the aspirants at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, Senator Ibrahim Ida said that it was at a meeting of his cabinet and personal aides that Governor Shema announced the endorsement.
“On Tuesday, 28 October, 2014, the governor convened a meeting of his cabinet and personal aides, during which he announced that an anointed candidate, in the person of one Engr. Musa Nashuni, a commissioner in the cabinet, is to be the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the coming 2015 general elections.”
In a letter of protest to the party’s National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, the aspirants, under the aegis of Forum of PDP Gubernatorial Aspirants for 2015 General Elections in Katsina State, said Nashuni had never identified with any PDP activities in the state, adding that Shema brought the endorsed candidate into the state government on the basis of his personal relationship.
Ida said: “Although Katsina state is a stronghold of the PDP in the North West Zone it is also the home state of the leading members of the opposition. Therefore, for the party to succeed in the 2015 general elections, it must field a popular and acceptable candidate.”
The aspirants, who are Senator Ibrahim Ida, former deputy Governor of Katsina state Alhaji Tukur I. Jikamshi, Engr. Gide A. Yar’Adua, Arc. Ahmed A. Yar’Adua Alhaji Kabiru Abdullahi Barkiya, and Engr. Mohammed Nura Khalil, prayed to the National Chairman and the NWC of the party to: “Reject any anointment of a gubernatorial candidate for the 2015 general election in Katsina state; send a fact-finding team to Katsina to establish the true state of affairs of the party in the state. In particular, the true relationship between the state government and the party stakeholders at all levels; ensure that there is a level playing field for all the stakeholders in the state, so that no one would be excluded in all political activities.”
