Ashiru accuses El-Rufai of plunging Kaduna into debt, unfolds economic agenda

Hunkuyi faults court ruling on APC candidates

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kaduna State for 2023 general election, Isah Ashiru, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) government under Nasir el-Rufai plunged the state into indebtedness with $574 million foreign loans and N361 billion domestic debt. He lamented that the debt profile would be a burden to the incoming government next year.

The PDP flagbearer spoke at a parley organised for candidates by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council, yesterday, as he gave details of how he would bring development and succour to the people, if elected.

Ashiru said the PDP, if voted into office, would appeal to foreign creditors for rescheduled repayment of the loans, while government embarks on innovative revenue drive for the state’s development.

To restore hope and dignity of the people, he unveiled a five-point agenda that covers security, agriculture, health, as well as youth and women development.

While pledging a level-playing ground for all the candidates, the Kaduna NUJ Chairman, Asmau Halilu, assured Ashiru and his campaign team, that NUJ members would do the needful.

MEANWHILE, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi, has faulted the judgment of the Federal High Court in the state, which allowed his APC counterpart, Uba Sani, to contest the 2023 elections, just as he prepares to take the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Court of Appeal over the application of the new Electoral Act.

Specifically, the NNPP and its candidate were appealing the ruling of the High Court for listing Sani and 34 others candidates for the poll.

The Federal High Court in Kaduna, in its ruling on Tuesday, had declared the suit as status barred. Hunkuyi said the NNPP would challenge the ruling at the Appeal Court, saying that the APC did not conduct valid ward congresses to get delegates that participated in the primaries, which produced its candidates and should not have been listed for the 2023 general elections.

Addressing the press, alongside the party’s Secretary, Yahaya Shenko, at the state’s NNPP secretariat, yesterday, Hunkuyi insisted that the party did not drag APC or its candidates to court, but the INEC “for listing the candidates produced from a faulty ward congresses and primaries.”