The internal squabbles within the Kano State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the recent expansionist moves of the new but fast growing New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) is threatening the fortunes and chances of the main opposition and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 general elections, Daily Trust reports.
While PDP only won in Kano State in the 1999 presidential election (with 75.4% of votes cast) since the return to democracy, the party has lost the state in all the other elections with President Muhammadu Buhari on the ballot (for ANPP, CPC and APC), according to available data which excludes the 2007 presidential election results.
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Analysts, therefore, argued that with the 2023 presidential election going to be the first time Buhari will not be on the ballot since 2003, this might be the best opportunity for the PDP to reclaim the state which it won massively in 1999 and has governed on two occasions (1999 and 2011).
But following the parallel primary elections in Kano, where two “candidates” emerged for the governorship election (Mohammed Abacha and Sadiq Wali, sons of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Aminu Wali), this opportunity seems to be evaporating.
Since then, loyalists of both candidates have been attributing legitimacy to their groups while de-marketing the other, development analysts have said that will further relegate the party in the state and affect its fortunes more so in the presidential election. This is even as the NNPP is now considered the main opposition party in the state with its growing strength.
Pictures of both candidates (Abacha and Wali) emerged recently on social media in what appeared to be “acknowledgement” of both by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). But the election umpire was quick to dissociate itself from reports that it had acknowledged both “candidates”.
Analysts fear that unlike the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which had found a way past its internal crisis in the state before the primary elections, PDP allowed the crisis to fester and affect the primary elections, which in turn may affect its general fortunes.
The crisis, which dated back to the 2019 election, has seen the party factionalised along loyalties to a former governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and a former minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali. But while Kwankwaso has left the party for the NNPP, the chairman of the party in the state, Shehu Sagagi (a Kwankwasiyya loyalist) is believed to be a stooge by loyalists of Wali, who have alleged severally that the aim is to disrupt the chances of the party, an allegation he has denied several times.
Wali’s loyalists had, therefore, instituted several court proceedings to wrest the control of the party from Sagagi but a court judgment a day to the governorship primaries reinstated Sagagi as the leader of the party in the state.
This led to the parallel primaries wherein Mohammed Abacha emerged as victorious in the one conducted by the Sagagi-led executives while Sadiq Wali emerged as victorious in the one conducted by Bello Hayatu Gwarzo, the North West Vice Chairman of the party and an associate of the elder Wali.
The in-fighting had majorly affected the strength of the PDP in the state, which led to the party being unable to produce a senatorial candidate for Kano South senatorial district as well as several other elective positions. It was even on record that, Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, who was later adopted as senatorial candidate for Kano north, came on board at the tail end of the exercise after he withdrew from the gubernatorial primaries.
And while the squabbles continue in PDP, the NNPP, which is now the home of Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya Movement, has been growing in ranks with several prominent politicians from PDP and APC also joining, including a former governor of the state, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau.
It was gathered that several aggrieved former members of the APC, who decamped to the NNPP, had considered the option of pitching their tents with the PDP but the internal crisis within the party had pushed them away and made them find solace in the NNPP.
Analysts also observed that going into the presidential primary election of the PDP, the internal crisis in the Kano chapter had also played out with several presidential aspirants not knowing which of the factions to relate with.
It was gathered that while the runner-up in the primary, Nyesom Wike, had identified with the Sagagi group, former Vice President Atiku reportedly met with the group loyal to Wali.
More litigations looming
And with neither of the factions willing to back down, observers fear that more litigations may be on the way and this, they said, will not augur well for the party, which is already fighting for relevance.
In fact, lawyers to candidates that emerged in the Sagagi-led group have already petitioned the national chairman of the party warning that should the party waste time in addressing the issue, they will not hesitate to explore their legal options.
In a letter dated June 8, signed by Dr. J. Y. Musa (SAN), the national chairman of PDP was warned that if the matter is not resolved in their favour, the party “may end up not having any candidate in the forthcoming general elections in Kano State. This may not be a risk worth taking considering the strategic position of Kano in the political equation in Nigeria.”
In an earlier letter dated June 6 titled “Notification of a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to substitute names of those who were duly elected in Kano State”, which was also addressed to the national chairman of the party, the lawyer had stated that “it is our brief that the National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party are plotting to substitute the names of our clients who emerged as winners in the primary elections monitored by INEC for those who did not emerge as winners in the said election.”
Youth group, don charge Atiku, party hqtrs to intervene
Meanwhile, a youth group in the party — PDP Youth in Action — has called on the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, to quickly step in to resolve the crisis consuming the Kano chapter of the party.
In a petition signed by 44 members of the group from the 44 local government areas in the state, the group said Atiku’s intervention will propel his “chances of winning the most populous state in the country.”
Also commenting, a renowned political scientist, Professor Kamilu Sani Fage of Bayero University Kano (BUK), said if the party leaders at the national level and its presidential candidate do not urgently intervene, it will cost the party the 2023 general elections.
He said this intervention has become necessary because by the look of things, if they leave the crisis for the state chapter to self-resolve, it will only continue with its negative effect.
“The party needs to puts its house in order. There is a need for intervention otherwise it will cost them dearly,” he added.
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