Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North, have kicked against the move by the immediate-past governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru to present himself as a ministerial nominee.
The group, therefore, called on President Bola Tinubu to resist the temptation of appointing any of the immediate-past state governors in his soon to be constituted cabinet as a ministerial nominee.
The stakeholders who are members of Northern Progressives Union (NPU) in a statement issued Monday and signed by Mohammed Ibrahim Kiyawa, said their decision was based on the fact that ex governors are all spent forces, failed politicians and disgruntled so-called leaders who do not fit into today’s reality of the present vision of the Renewed Hope mantra of the present administration.
They said: “We are the foot soldiers of the APC in this part of the country and therefore making a categorical statement urging Mr. President and the APC as a political party not entertain the idea of nominating any of the former Governors from the region in the incoming cabinet as they do not have the required capacities and capabilities to drive the process.”
The stakeholders stressed that their demand was legitimate and was consequent upon the misdeeds of some of them during the 2023 general election where most were moles and fifth columnists used by the opposition parties and in most cases funds given to them for elections were personalised and kept for self-serving purposes.
They noted that Jigawa, Yobe and Zamfara states could be adjudged among the least politically astute states in the Northern Nigeria and thus they are most likely to move in line with the body language of their key leaders that they identify with and not necessarily any other factor.
They added: “While President Tinubu was mobilising at all levels, the former governor seeking ministerial nomination could not deliver votes from his area. “
The stakeholders explained that in Jigawa State 2023 presidential election, the Hadejia Emirate consisting of Birniwa, Kirikasamma, Guri, Hadejia, Malam Madori, Kaugama, Auyo and Kafin Hausa local governments, massively voted for APC owing to the fact that one of them was made APC governorship candidate for the first time ever since the creation of the state, adding that the votes were not necessarily due to any funds disbursed by the former Governor.
They added: “In the first place, the Governor never disbursed any money; the truth is that for some of us on the ground, it was found out that People’s Democratic Party outspent APC, thus the reason for PDP gathering some considerable votes otherwise. It should have been landslide for APC because of the zoning arrangement in favour of the governorship candidate of our great party as stated.”
The stakeholders noted that the PDP had a very good show in the Gumel Emirate comprising Gumel, Maigatari, Sule Tankarkar local governments, adding that this might be due to those places being traditionally PDP apologists and perhaps APC’s non-mobilization of the appropriate resources.
They said APC did very well in the Ringim Emirate consisting of Ringim, Garki, Taura, Gagarawa owing to the philanthropy of a man called Gerawa who was arguably the biggest entrepreneur in the state and the biggest investor in the politics of the state.
They added that as for Kazaure zone which is the governor’s zone, it was more of even between the two parties, which might be due to lack of necessary goodwill and lack of appropriate resources, stressing that the local governments include: Babura, Kazaure, Gwiwa, Roni, Yankwashi.