The people of Katsina State, no doubt, never envisaged the present security challenges being faced by most of the northern states. This has turned the region into a harvest of armed banditry, robbery, kidnapping and a place where free movement has become a nightmare.
The present administration of Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari indeed has been overwhelmed by the challenges even as he would be happy to bid the state bye when his second tenure elapses on May 29, 2023.
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Ravaged by insecurity which indeed limited the infrastructure, human capital and educational development of the state, many indigenes for fear of being killed, relocated to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with businesses closed. In the last eight years, Katsina has never been that state where people longed to be and sleep with their two eyes closed.
Whoever will take over the reins of the state as governor in 2023, should be up and doing to tackle the debt burden, food security, infrastructure decay, out-of-school children and its attendant consequences and the very serious problem of poverty alleviation.
With the 2023 elections few months away, there may be a ray of hope for the people once more as Senator Garba Yakubu Lado Danmarke intensifies effort to ensure that Katsina would be safe again if given the mandate to rule the state, having won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket for the forthcoming election.
The Senator, born 1961, is a businessman, who became a Member of the House of Representatives (2003–2007) and was elected a Senator in April 2007 for the Katsina South Senatorial District on the platform of the PDP.
Lado, before coming to the House of Representatives in 2003, was a local government chairman, who excelled with a history of solving insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and turnaround of his constituency during his tenure. He made the area safe and equally became the template to copy by the other local government areas of the state. Businesses thrived and the movement of goods was free and safe without touting and undue taxation.
Many felt that having done so much as a local government chairman, member of the House of Representatives and Senator, he must have garnered enough experience for more challenges, hence the call for the governorship seat of Katsina.
With the lack of focus, decay and inconsistent policies on how best to tackle security challenges by the present government of Masari, which ends on May 29 next year, a fresh and experienced hand is needed to take over the leadership and rescue the state.
It is more worrisome when viewed against the fact that katsina is President Muhammadu Buhari’s state of origin, yet there is no template by either the state or federal authorities on how to keep the area safe despite the fact that several Federal Government institutions have been located there.
The Senator, who won the elections in April 2007 as a member of the then ruling party was appointed member of the committees on Water Resources, Sports and Land Transport.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, in October 2008, Lado took on the ministry officials and claimed they never briefed him on a decision to temporarily suspend an $8.3 billion dollar railway modernization project, which had been awarded in 2006 to the Chinese construction firm China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Therefore, in November fought for the Nigerian Railway Corporation Establishment bill to be passed into law, allowing private sector participation in the rail sector.
It would be recalled that in May Lado and the then PDP Governor, Ibrahim Shema, were competing for influence in Katsina State. At a PDP convention in Abuja, a minor scuffle ensued between supporters of the two men. Shortly after, the PDP zonal leadership said Lado had been suspended from the party. However, the PDP State Working Committee supported Lado and nullified the suspension and caused the two parties to embrace for the development of the state.
Yakubu Lado had contested for the 2007 gubernatorial position under the platform of CPC with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s brother, AbdulAziz Musa Yar’adua, as his running mate. The major opponent was the then incumbent governor, Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema. The campaign was characterized by violent clashes between the two opposing parties that led to the arrest of Lado.
However, Lado lost to the incumbent governor in what was considered a ‘hidden reconciliation’ between the prime aspirants. Decamping to PDP, Lado contested for the same position in 2019 against the incumbent governor, Aminu Bello Masari, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who decamped to the APC, and lost again.
According to the returning officer of the party, who confirmed that there was no rancor but a peaceful exercise that saw the emergence of Lado, a total of 1108 delegates got accredited for the exercise, with a total of 1094 total votes cast and four votes declared invalid.
The result was announced at exactly 1:45 am on Friday by the Chairman of the Katsina State PDP Electoral Committee, a clear evidence that it was peaceful.
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“I Chika Nwozozo, the returning officer of the 2023 gubernatorial primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Katsina State, having counted and recorded the votes scored by each of the aspirants, hereby declare that Alhaji Garba Yakubu Lado, having polled the highest number of votes of 740, is hereby declared the winner of the gubernatorial primaries of the PDP in Katsina State.”
Senator Lado, who enjoys support from people of different walks of life in Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, FCT and the southern part of the country, has promised to work with other aspirants, noting that the victory is for all of them who contested in the primaries.
“The victory today is not for me; it is for all of us. All of us have tried, all of us are very committed members of our dear party. Therefore, this victory is for all of us and I want to assure you that we are going to work together. We have been working together and we are going to continue working together,” Lado said.
Speaking after the exercise, Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, congratulated Lado, assuring him that they would work with him to ensure that the APC is sacked from the State Government House in 2023.
The former state party chairman appealed to all well-meaning members of the party to join hands together with the 2023 governorship candidate.
“As one of the aspirants that contested in this election, I want to call on every well-meaning member of the party to unite together and support our 2023 governorship candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado,” Majigiri said
The election which was contested by five other aspirants that included Ahmad Yar’adua and former state deputy governor, Abdullahi Faskari, saw the contestants, including the former PDP gubernatorial candidate in 2015, Musa Nashuni, Umar Tata and Sada Ilu returning immediately with Lado to face the job of winning a state where the president of the country and APC member comes from.
Since winning the Katsina State Governorship Primaries of the PDP for the 2023 gubernatorial elections at the party’s secretariat, having polled 740 votes to defeat his major contender, Salisu Majigiri, who secured 257 votes, Lado has never hidden his resolve to once again take up the daunting challenges that seemed insurmountable for the present administration.
The PDP governorship candidate in Katsina state is no a new person to party politics and has assured of his administration’s “readiness to tackle the security situation, bedeviling the state within a period of three months, if elected the governor come 2023”
According to Lado: “Securing Katsina which shares boundaries with three neighbouring countries in the North is no rocket science. I know the nooks and crannies of katsina and the neighbouring states. We share common boundaries with three other neighbouring countries and must work out how best to secure the state. It is no longer story that the present administration is clueless and with months to go, have no solution. The job before the new government is a huge assignment that requires men with deep knowledge of good governance, transparency and the support of the people to succeed. We have several establishments in the state that if katsina is allowed to be overrun by the hooligans, vagabonds and men of questionable character, then upcoming generations will never forgive us. Of course, I am the man for the job with my friends, who know what should be done and now is the time to do It,” he said.
Like most states in the North-west, Katsina is faced with the problem of insecurity, which is as a result of the activities of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and rustlers.Thousands of lives have been lost, kidnapped or maimed since the challenge started about a decade ago, with scores of residents that have now deserted their various communities.
Indeed, Danmarke insists that despite the years-long security problem, the challenge can be overcome in the state.
According to him, “the ruling All Progressive Congress APC, in the state has exhausted all its ideas on how to tackle the problems. The problem may persist even if the APC gets to form government next year.The APC has exhausted its ideas on ways to tackle the situation, and it may not be any different if the gubernatorial candidate of the party gets to form government next year. If given the opportunity to become the state governor, I will tackle the security challenge, facing the state within period of three months.”
“I don’t want to say exactly what I would do to achieve this, but I’ll keep it to myself till then since it’s a security matter,” he said.
More so, the PDP membership in the state is growing by the day, and the party will no doubt give the APC and other political parties candidates, a run for their money.
“The party has been waxing stronger in membership in recent weeks, as thousands have left their parties and joined the PDP. People are tired of the socio-economic setbacks, facing the state and are out to give the PDP another chance at the ballot box.
“Just days ago, we received thousands of people from the opposition in Daura Senatorial Zone and today (Sunday), we are going to receive another group of defectors at Sandamu council area,” he affirmed.
