The All Progressives Congress (APC) has attracted more members, with the defection of four legislators from the Kaduna State House of Assembly and five members of the House of Representatives, along with thousands of their supporters, in a mega rally held on Saturday.
With the latest defections, APC now has 13 Kaduna State legislators in the House of Representatives, leaving the PDP with three. Furthermore, there are now 26 APC members in the House of Assembly, compared to eight PDP members.
The mega rally, which was held at Kaduna’s Murtala Square over the weekend, was attended by the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and Environment Minister Alhaji Balarabe Abbas Lawal as well as North West Development Commission Chairman Alhaji Lawal Samaila Yakawada and several thousand APC supporters.
Speaking at the event, Governor Uba Sani assured the former champions that APC is a family that does not discriminate against its members, adding that “those who have joined our party today and those who have been with us since the inception of this party will have the same privilege.”
“What’s most important is his ability to reach out to the grassroots, to appeal to everyone, particularly the people of the constituency that elected him, that gave him the opportunity to represent them,” he added.
The Governor recalled that APC had only four members in the House of Representatives in 2023, but the party now has 14 members in the lower legislative chamber.
“Today in Kaduna we have no opposition. Some months ago I promised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that we would get 80 per cent of the votes. But today I have changed my stance: about 95 per cent of the total votes in Kaduna State will go to APC in 2027,” he said.
According to him, the influx of elected members to APC in Kaduna State is not rocket science but is based on his administration’s focus on justice, equity and inclusion.
”Our state is the most diverse in Nigeria. When we arrived, we made sure to use our diversity as our strength. That is why today we have not experienced a single ethno-religious crisis in Kaduna State. It is unprecedented.
”We work as one family. We believe politics is about unity. It is about working for the interests of the people. Poverty does not respect religion. Poverty does not respect ethnicity. Poverty does not respect political affiliation. We have to work as one family. Our interest is our State,” he added.
The Governor noted that Kaduna State has 23 local governments and has spread development across the three geopolitical zones.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Nentawe described APC as “the promised land” for Nigerian politicians, adding that the duo of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Uba Sani deserve a second term in office because of their achievements.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, noted that the APC has achieved political dominance in Kaduna State, a feat that no party has ever achieved in the state.
“Today, whether in Zone 1, Zone 2 or Zone 3, APC is the party to beat,” he declared to the mammoth crowd, adding that “we have never been so strong before.”
Honorable Husseini Jalo, who spoke on behalf of the decampos, thanked Governor Uba Sani and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for providing good leadership in the country and the state respectively.
According to him, Kaduna State is now a one-party state and both the President and Governor Uba Sani will be re-elected for the second time.
The federal legislators who defected from the PDP to the APC are Hon Sadiq Ango, representing Sabon Gari Federal Constituency, Hon Andulkarim Husseini Ahmad (Kaduna South), Hon Aliyu Mustapha Abdullahi (Ikara/Kubau) and Hussaini Jalo (Igabi).
Similarly, other notable defectors are former Senator Danjuma Lah (PDP), former Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi (NNPP) and former Senator Shehu Sani (PDP), as well as former Governor Muktar Ramalan Yero, including Hon Saidu Adamu, State Secretary of the PDP.
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