By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described its victory in last Saturday’s Kaduna state Assembly bye-election despite the bragging, intimidation and rigging machinations of the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led APC administration, as a further signal that the people of Kaduna state have since rejected Governor El-Rufai and his APC.
The PDP in a statement on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that its victory in Kaduna, particularly in the political melting point like Sabon Gari Constituency, is a foretaste of the crushing defeat that awaits the APC in Kaduna and other states of the federation in the 2023 general elections.
“The PDP’s resounding victory in the Kaduna election is a reaffirmation that Kaduna state is home to PDP, in spite of the APC administration, which is now being shown the way out.
“The outcome of the Saturday’s bye-election also reinforces the popularity of the PDP as well as our candidate, Alhaji Usman Baba, while serving as an unmistaken expression of the people’s rejection of the high-handedness, oppression, executive recklessness and arrogance, divisiveness, vindictiveness, economic repression, infrastructural decay and general misrule that have characterised governance in Kaduna state under the APC.
“Since it is clear that the APC administration in Kaduna state has nothing to offer the people other than imposing a siege mentality and arrogant power intoxication, our party counsels the APC to read the hand writing on the wall on the fate that awaits it in 2023”.
“The PDP congratulates the member-elect, Usman Baba, as well as the people of Kaduna state and urges him to hit the ground running, in line with the commitment of the PDP to provide the dividends of democracy, which have eluded the people of Kaduna State in the last six years of APC’s misrule.”
The Returning Officer for the election, Dr Mohammed-Nuruddin Musa, had declared that Baba won the election with 9,113 votes.
He defeated his closest contender, Malam Musa Musa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 7, 404 votes, Musa Halilu of PRP secured 305 votes, while Malam Anas Abdullahi of the ADC and Chindo Ibrahim of ADP, scored 62 and 61 votes respectively
The bye-election followed the declaration of the seat as vacant by the state House Assembly in April, due to the failure of the lawmaker representing the constituency, Aminu Shagali in participating in legislative activities for more than 360 days.
