Kano State House of Assembly Candidates Forum of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the national leadership of the party to take disciplinary measures against those responsible for destroying the chances of the party in the 2023 elections in the state.
The forum appealed to the national leadership of the party to grant its members audience in order to avail it with their grievances in the Kano State chapter.
The forum wanted the party stakeholders to consider accommodating State House of Assembly Candidates at least whenever the agenda is on ‘How to find solutions to the Party’s nagging problems or challenges militating against the party, ahead of the 2027 general elections’.
This was contained in a communique jointly signed by the forum chairman, Hon Muzakkir Rabiu Garko, and Secretary, Hon Lubasatu Ibrahim Tumfafi, after a meeting held in Kano during the week.
In the communique, the forum requested for compensation for being the only category of candidates who didn’t receive any support from the party and its presidential candidate, unlike Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.
“Fresh hands should be not only be injected into the State’s Executive Committee and sub-committees, but allowed to head some of them,’’ the communique said.
Some of the issues raised at the meeting were that in every election cycle, State House of Assembly Candidates should not be treated with contempt, cynicism and neglect in comparison to other categories of aspirants and candidates, notably Gubernatorial, House of Representatives and Senatorial candidates both in moral and financial terms.
‘’The irony of it all is that the State House of Assembly candidates are the quintessential, real term grassroots politicians within the political space of the State, who are day in day out approached by the electorate with all manner of inquiries and demands, hence easier to be criticized, found wanting and fall out with them, which inevitably has the most detrimental effects on the party in terms of political capital and victory at the polls.
“Members of this Forum (State Assembly Candidates Forum “SHOA”) to put it mildly, have since 2015 been the worst hit, least praised and compensated vis-a-vis our outstanding diligence, loyalty, tenacity, and endurance, but are usually blamed whenever the outcome of any election turns out to be less than favorable.
‘’Equally disturbing is that despite being rated as the most vulnerable players to hazards posed by hoodlums and other violent characters from other political parties, we are nonetheless made mere floating objects on the ocean of uncertainty as far as all political considerations go.
‘’We lack access to the party structure, where we could register our grievances for redress, or get a listening ear in order to get some sort of relief in our daily political struggles to maintain and uplift our great party.
‘’Instead of the party and elders being our comforters, such quarters rather take delight in looking and talking down at us as if we are nothing but a nuisance to them.’
‘’Consequently, many of us were, during the recent elections literally sabotaged, after several attempts to disqualify or induce us monetarily to withdraw from the contest had failed.
‘’Needless to say, we feel excruciatingly pained by the lowly betrayal, just as we’re concerned that those behind it could get away with it and consequently deny us a chance to Contribute our quarter to the party and our society as the same people are positioning themselves to take over the party they actively demarketed in the just concluded elections.’’
The forum in the communique urged the state executive committee to immediately start to prepare for a possible presidential election rerun, which should be all-inclusive and the need to have representation of the forum in the State Party leadership.
