Dr. John Ayuba, an aspirant at the Southern Kaduna Senatorial primaries of the Peoples’s Democratic Party, PDP, has said members ganged up against incumbent Senator, Esther Nenadi Usman so as to save the party from total collapse.
Ayuba, a former Kaduna State Commissioner for Finance in late Governor Patrick Yokowa administration, explained that he opted out of the Senatorial primary race for Southern Kaduna Senatorial zone on the day of the election to save the PDP from an obvious defeat at the general polls.
In a statement signed by him yesterday and made available to newsmen in Kaduna, Ayuba, who served both under the late Governor Patrick Yakowa and the Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero said: “I wish to use this medium to express my profound appreciation to my supporters both in the PDP and the generality of the southern Kaduna people for their support, encouragement and prayers all through my campaign period.
“I will remain eternally indebted to my delegates, campaign team and other supporters for their loyalty and especially for agreeing with our collective decision for me to step down in the overall interest of the Kaduna South Senatorial district to effect a change in our representation in the senate.
“Before reaching this decision, it was obvious that one of the contestants (Senator Esther Nenadi Usman) who was not popular with the general electorate was going to win the primary election which will mean PDP losing the seat to an opposition party during the general elections.
“I believe our decision has set a precedence on the need for sacrifice to achieve the common good instead of self-interest”.
It was learnt that there was a build up for mass demonstration outside the heavily guarded gate of the Kafanchan Stadium, venue of the election last Sunday, when rumour filtered out that Usman was winning the election.
This prompted armed soldiers and police to fire several shots into the air to disperse the tensed crowd.
However, there were reports about youths preparing for demonstrations in several towns and villages in Southern Kaduna should Nenadi win the election.
At the end, Nenadi lost with a margin of six votes to Chief Danjuma La’ah.
Her defeat was greeted by wide celebration in Southern Kaduna, residents said.
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