ADP Chieftain, Former SSG Defect to APC in Niger

Laleye Dipo

The ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State were at last weekend blossomed when two prominent political figures-one of them, the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Alhaji Isah Kawu, defected to the party.

A former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) during the administration of Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Professor Mohammed Yahaya Kuta, also defected to the APC in the state at the weekend.

They are among “several others who joined the APC at a special stakeholders meeting” held at the Government House in Minna last Saturday.

A report from the meeting did not disclose the reasons why the duo and others defected to the APC, but explained that “it is a good omen for the party in the state.”

Kawu, who was also the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, was reputed for being a grassroots politician, while Kuta, a Professor of Agricultural and Development Communication at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, and also served at different times as Commissioner for Agriculture and Information in Niger State.

However, effort to get the duo for confirmation of the report was abortive.

Meanwhile, the APC has zoned the governorship of the state to the Niger South senatorial zone, where both Professor Kuta and Kawu come from.

The decision was taken at the special stakeholders’ meeting held last Saturday where the state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello; his Deputy, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Ketso, members of the state and national assemblies and party executives were in attendance.