By Jude Opara, Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State, Dr. Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, to without further delay intervene in what he described as the sorry state of the APC in the state.
Dr. Shinkafi, who was reported to have survived an assassination attempt last Friday, warned that the imposition of candidates in elections is the main problem of the party adding that such would no longer be tolerated.
Addressing a press conference in Gusau over the weekend, Shinkafi said he was attacked by political thugs while attending a wedding at Rabia Jumu’at Mosque in Gusau.
He claimed that the attack was because of his recent public comments criticizing the APC’s lack of internal democracy and addressing the failure to apprehend the notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji.
“I recognize my attackers as APC members. This was clearly a mission to silence me because I openly criticized the imposition of candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections and the failure to arrest Bello Turji,” Shinkafi stated.
According to him, the attackers were acting under the influence of certain party leaders who are uncomfortable with his stance on internal democracy within the APC.
Dr. Shinkafi, a former gubernatorial candidate, expressed deep concern over the state of the APC in Zamfara.
The APC chieftain also claimed that the party’s defeats in the 2019 and 2023 elections was due to the imposition of candidates, warning that such practice would no longer be tolerated by the electorate and party stakeholders.
“We all saw how APC lost Zamfara in 2019 and 2023 due to the imposition of candidates. This will not happen again,” he stated.
He urged party leaders at both the state and national levels to address these issues promptly to prevent further division within the party.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and our National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje should act fast to save Zamfara APC before it’s too late,” he concluded.“We win the next election because this last 2023 election was very close. We have 12 governors. We have about 40 per cent of the National Assembly, “he said.
According to him, PDP has 12 states already, all it needs to win are few states to dislodge APC.
Pearse said that all that PDP needed was to look out for party leaders “who had one astray “,especially to the Labour Party.
“They include our youth members who went to support Labour. And we have been doing that, by the way, since the end of the last election.
“We have been working on that, making sure we bring our people back, reaching out to them, talking to them. We are negotiating how we are going to do it.
“So, all we need to do is to work within our structures, negotiate, reconcile all our people and we will win the next election,” he said.
Pearse said that the former ruling party lost the 2023 general elections because the party went into the election with a divided house over zoning.
“The party went astray last time because they did not clarify the constitutional tenets that said that if the national chairman comes from the north, the presidential candidate cannot also come from the north.
“Since we normally elect the national chairman before the presidential candidate, it was expected that the national chairman (Dr Iyorchia Ayu) would gracefully step down once a northerner had emerged for president.Tbat did not happen.
“That was the beginning of our problems. It was a divided house that lost that election.
“The Presidential Candidate, Vice President Atiku Abubakar also didn’t do enough to solve the problem.We are not going to allow it to happen now,” he said.
The tribunal chairman, who adjourned to January 13, 2025, for hearing, said the court shall be sitting from day to day from 10am except on Sundays and other public holidays gazetted by law.
He, however, stated that the sitting period is subject to reviews as the exigencies of the workload permit“As a democratic and responsible party, the PDP will always avoid anything that can result in a breach of peace. We call on party faithful to remain peaceful and law-abiding, while urging the decampees to embark on creating their own identity and acceptability instead of hiding behind the PDP’s credibility and popularity.
“Delta State is a peaceful and enlightened society, and we will not allow the forces of political mischief to destabilize the peace in the state.”
Dr. Okorodudu stressed that “The PDP remains committed to upholding the values of democracy, justice, and good governance.”
He also called on security agencies to immediately investigate the incident, identify those responsible, and ensure that they are brought to justice.
