Major political stakeholders and youth groups in Southern Kaduna Zone have raised against the purported adoption of a governorship aspirant in Kaduna State under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Aziz Zego by some elders in the zone.
A major setback for the adoption has come from another PDP governorship aspirant in the zone, former Aviation Minister, Mr. Felix Hassan Hyet, who has rejected the choice of Aziz.
Reacting to the development, Hyet distanced himself from the “so called adoption” of Senator Aziz, saying “I’m certainly not a party to that arrangement, it is not a decision of Southern Kaduna, because SOKAPU is the only mouth piece of Southern Kaduna people.
“he issue is also political and involves the state and not just a section. It is equally not a religious issue for any religious leader to sign any press release” he said.
The former Minister advised his supporters to ignore such endorsement, saying that all aspirants from the zone contesting for governorship seat in 2015 are still very much in the race.
The adoption of Senator Aziz has also been condemned by various concerned groups within the PDP in the zone, who believe those that endorsed him are just a group of his friends and non-members of the PDP.
Three different concerned groups from Southern Kaduna have rejected the purported endorsement of Senator Aziz as the sole PDP gubernatorial aspirant from the zone to go into the primaries with the incumbent Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero.
In an interview with newsmen in Kaduna, spokesperson for the groups, Mr. Victor Bobbai Matthew, a Special Assistant to three former Governors on youths matters said no political group has the right in the zone to speak except the Deputy Governor.
He said “only the Deputy Governor has the right to speak because he is from our zone and our leader, the leadership of our party is not aware of such meeting that endorse Senator Aziz.”
Bobai noted that those involved in the “so-called endorsement” are not card carrying members of the PDP, neither are they representing the political interest of the southern Kaduna people.
The former student union leader decried attempts by Senator Aziz to ‘hoodwink’ unsuspecting delegates by using his friends, relations, retired military officers and clergymen to endorse his ambition
He said any meeting of the party in the zone that does not have the blessing of the Deputy Governor, Amb. Nuhu Audu Bajoga who is the political leader of southern Kaduna is not acceptable.
“Only the Deputy Governor has the right to speak because he is from our zone and our leader. The leadership of our party is not aware of such meeting that endorse Senator Aziz,” he said.
Also speaking on the matter, Mr. Shuaibu Yayock ,former chairmanship aspirant, Kaura LGA (Zangon Kataf) and Dr Khalin Wujat Concerned PDP Member Youths & Students Political Forum, said Kaduna State is heterogeneous in nature and should not be seen as an exclusive preserve of the Southern Kaduna people.
Yayock said “It is on this note that we condemn the position of the so-called “Azeez Elders’ Forum”, whose selfish motives kills our togetherness, destroys our value & democratic ethics of the making of a Southern Kaduna governor.
“Nevertheless, the mistakes of the past can be learnt from, and new democratic practices that will guarantee the birth of a new future for Southern Kaduna can be administered”.
He said that in order to secure the political future of Southern Kaduna “our recommendations is that Southern Kaduna should maintain the mainstream politics of the PDP.”
According to him, “Southern Kaduna should support and encourage the Goodluck administration and should encourage inclusive politics rather than exclusive vis-à-vis Aziz’s propaganda.
“Southern Kaduna military elite should come up with a security blueprint to safeguard and protect the integrity of our communities not dabbling into political waters and thereby overheating the polity, youths should coexist with youths from other zones in order to actualize socio-political and economic development of the state.
“Southern Kaduna youths should not be used as tools to score cheap political points” he said.
The groups therefore declared their readiness to negotiate with all aspirants with the view to electing a credible candidate for the PDP adding that “We call on our aspiring politicians to learn the principles of negotiation, play politics without bitterness, always remember the socio-economic position of the zone and uphold the principles of political values.”
They also assured the PDP of massive support from people of Southern Kaduna in the 2015 elections saying “We are ready to give the five million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan and who ever emerges as our PDP Governorship Candidate after the primaries.”
About four aspirants are in the race from Southern Kaduna zone, contesting for the governorship election on the platform of PDP.
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