Lado’s Growing Influence Unsettles APC in Katsina

Francis Sardauna writes that the growing popularity and acceptability of Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate in Katsina State, Senator Yakubu Lado, appears a threat to the ruling All Progressives Congress

As the battle for the soul of Katsina State continues to gather momentum, the growing influence and acceptability of the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Yakubu Lado, has rattled the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state ahead of the 2023 election.

The ascending acceptance and popularity of Lado in the state, is already making the camp of the APC Gubernatorial Candidate, Dikko Umar Radda, jittery over their chances or possibility of winning the March 11, 2023 governorship election despite the perceived power of incumbency.

Lado, the 2023 candidate of the main opposition PDP, whose political pedigrees have made him gain unflinching support from the electorate at the grassroot, is a serial contestant of the governorship seat.

He was among the 2011 governorship aspirants of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the state, 2015 and 2019 governorship candidates of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) and the PDP respectively.

The former Senator, House of Representatives member and Chairman of Kankara Local Government Area, is an astute politician and a quiet achiever but considered an old-timer on the political turf. His emergence is bringing excitement and apprehension, being a strong PDP gubernatorial candidate with age and sustainable economic track records on his side.

Recent political developments in Katsina state have lent credence to the rising profile of the PDP governorship candidate because political stakeholders like the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Muhammed Inuwa, including members of the business community, traditional and religious leaders are said to be rallying support for Lado to chart a way forward for his 2023 victory following what political observers termed failure of the APC in the state.

Inuwa, who contested the recently concluded governorship primaries of the APC but lost to Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, is an astute politician in the state that has well-stacked APC membership within his political fold. On the heels of the turn out of the primaries, the APC bigwig accused the state leadership of the party of working with other stalwarts of the party against his lifelong political ambition of succeeding Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

There are strong indications that the erstwhile SSG who is considered by political observers as the engine-room of Masari’s government and thousands of his supporters may jump ship from the APC to PDP.  His recent meeting with the state PDP governorship candidate, Senator Lado and some stalwarts of the party, further confirmed his plans to dump the ruling party.

Lado, while addressing the former SSG and his teeming supporters during the meeting, said: “We are here to appeal to our elder brother (Inuwa), a political force who left the PDP for one reason or the other to come back and join our bid to rescue Katsina State from its current myriad of challenges.

“We are appealing to him to forgive and forget whatever wrong our party has done to him in the past that made him leave the party. We know your strength and capacity. We know what you can do and we are hoping that you will join forces with the PDP soon”.

But Inuwa who is nursing grievous wounds inflicted on him during the APC primaries, told Senator Lado and his delegation that he would consult his political godfathers and supporters within and outside the state before deciding on his next political line of action which will adversely affect the APC chances of winning the poll.

The former SSG who is alleged to have donated 10 offices to the PDP for the 2023 campaigns, however, vowed to work only for a competent and qualified candidate that will rescue Katsina from its current security and economic challenges in the forthcoming general election.

Aside from wooing Inuwa to join the PDP, the perception in the state’s political landscape is that the opposition party is becoming an immutable political force to be reckoned with going by the massive exodus of notable APC members into the party’s fold in the last few months because of the premeditated strategies of Senator Lado and his running mate, Ahmed Yar’Adua.

Perhaps, Inuwa’s consultations with his political associates on whether to leave the APC for the PDP has further triggered permutations within the party, especially the camp of its governorship candidate (Radda).

Another issue that frets the camp is the daily defection of thousands of registered APC members to the Peoples Democratic Party. For instance, in July this year, 5,000 APC members from Matazu and Musawa Local Government Areas led by Hon. Ali Maikano dumped the party for PDP in the state.

In August, another batch of 19,5000 APC members, mostly officials from Baure and Zango local governments in Daura senatorial zone of President Muhammadu Buhari, also defected to the PDP. The defectors cited unfulfilled campaign promises by the APC-led government, economic and security predicaments afflicting the state, as their reasons for leaving the party.

No fewer than 15,000 APC members were also said to have left the party for PDP in Mai’Adua and Safana local governments respectively.

Sources within the party further revealed that more chieftains of the ruling APC and other political parties in the state are advancing and realigning to join the PDP ahead of the 2023 elections.

Also, the emergence of Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, as expected, did not go down well with a number of party members and other stakeholders in the state. As if to add pepper to a festering sore, the selection of the former Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Faruk Lawal Jobe, as the running mate to Radda has deepened the anger in the party.

The selection of Jobe as Radda’s running mate did not go down well with some chieftains of the party, including its State Vice Chairman, Bala Abu Musawa, who believes that Jobe is not politically astute enough to muster the needed votes from the southern (Funtua zone) part of the state that could help his principal coast home to victory.

These schools of thought argued that the party should have picked the current Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Hamza Sule Faskari, as running mate to its governorship candidate, whom they said, has good political pedigrees, grassroots structure and a deep pocket to invoke votes for the party. They also believe that the party may have shot itself in the foot.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party has continued its moves to completely take over the political leadership of the state following its recent purchase of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first-ever campaign office in Daura.

The one-storey campaign office located in the heart of the historic Daura city, was acquired by Senator Ahmed Babba Kaita and handed over to the PDP for electioneering. The Buhari Organisation (TBO) office, according to reliable sources, was retrieved from the APC following the party’s inability to pay accumulated tenancy rents.

This, among many other underhand happenings in the APC in the state, is believed to be scaring Radda and his campaign team, a development that apparently made the leadership of the party to inaugurate reconciliation committees at ward, local government and state levels in order to appease aggrieved members.

Unarguably, with this crux of animosity or antipathy within the camp of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the guber candidate of the party and some party’s critical stakeholders are now restless, moving from one local government to another for what they tagged ‘sensitization and familiarization visit’, all in the guise of convalescing the wounds of those they injured as well as preparing ground for the 2023 polls.

But to many political pundits, the present day PDP in Katsina state could best be described as an underdog that should not be underrated as far as the 2023 general elections is concerned going by the exodus of notable politicians into the party in the past few months.

The array of strong and powerful politicians paraded across the various geo political zones by Katsina state PDP, is also, quite impressive and intimidating such that it wIll be a very hectic and herculean task for the ruling party (APC) to contend with in 2023. Therefore, going by the analysis of the potential of the governorship candidates ahead of the 2023 elections, Lado has been tipped to have an edge above other flagbearers in the