Kaduna group faults campaign against Muslim-Muslim ticket

• Supports Sani for governor
• As Taraba community rallies support for PDP guber candidate

A Kaduna State group under the auspices of Amalgamation of Deregistered Political Parties in Nigeria (ADPPN) has blamed opposition political parties in the state for the coinage of Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uba Sani, picked Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s deputy, Hadiza Balarabe, as his running mate to give women a sense of belonging.

The group, however, explained that Balarabe is a Muslim, coincidentally, and opposition parties have capitalised on it to demarket Sani.

Addressing a press briefing, yesterday, at the Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council, the Chairman of the group, Mohammed Ahmed, in company of the Secretary, Matoh Yakubu, said the appointment of a woman as a running mate was to give voice to women in the state, who had been kept at the background of politics for too long.

The group further noted that the combination of Sani and Balarabe is to achieve gender balance in the state’s political space, adding that the balance is a strategy that is giving the opposition nightmare.

Ahmed said: “We, the forum of ADPPN, where 60 party chairmen and their excos, which were deregistered after the 2019 general elections, are here today to raise critical salient issues relating to the forthcoming governorship elections in Kaduna in relation to the APC governorship candidate, Sani.

“However, we are disturbed by negative signals coming from some political parties, which have decided to create a political gimmick they called “Muslim-Muslim” ticket. This phrase is a coinage of the opposition in the state. The APC only gave voice to our women, who have been kept in the background for long; and for the last four years, the performance of Kaduna women in governance is clear for everyone to see.”

Meanwhile, stakeholders from Mumuye Community have reached out to their kinsmen and women in Gashaka, Yorro and Bali councils of Taraba State to ramp up support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Kefas Agbu, ahead Saturday’s governorship and state Assembly elections.

The stakeholders, who include the Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. David Kassa, and his counterpart from Ministry of Rural Development, Kallamu Alhamdu, among others, said it has become necessary for them to mobilise the Mumuye ethnic group for the candidate, following his rich blueprint.

Citing Agbu’s military background, they are optimistic that, if elected governor, numerous vices in the state will be a thing of the past.

Describing the candidate’s blueprint as the “best” of all the candidates jostling for the number one position in the state, Kassa said: “Agbu has a good blueprint for the development of the state, and as you know, PDP has, since 1999, ran an inclusive government in the state, and Agbu will not be different.”