From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The governorship campaigns of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State appear to get messier by the day with outlandish claims and counter-allegations from both parties.
The APC has continued to question the paternity of the PDP governorship candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado, even as a chieftain of the ruling party, Sabo Musa, issued a definitive pronouncement that Lado is actually an indigene of Kano State, an allegation that has tended to unsettle the PDP leadership.
Reacting to the development in a press statement on Wednesday, the Director, PDP Media Campaign Council, Alhaji Kabir Yusuf Yar’adua, traced the origins of a number of APC members to Kafanchan in Kaduna State.
According to the statement, “Let Sabo Musa remember in case he has forgotten that he himself is from far away Kafanchan in Kaduna State and by extension a blood relation to Sheikh Yakubu Musa who until lately had ‘Kafanchan’ as his third name which he stylishly dropped and replaced it with Hassan.
“Let him also know that Yakubu Lado was born and bred in Katsina.
“He was not religiously smuggled into the state unlike Sabo Musa and his Kafanchan brothers.
“Now, the simple question is, who is closer to Katsina between Kano which is just about 180 kilometres away than Kafanchan in Kaduna State which is over 400 kilometres away from Katsina?
“And, for the records, Senator Yakubu Lado’s father was a known large-scale farmer and a philanthropist as well as a full-fledged businessman who contributed immensely to the economic development of the whole Katsina State in so many ways.”
The statement also reaffirmed its belief that there is no division within the PDP in the state contrary to certain media reports.
Yar’Adua said, “the PDP Campaign Council re-iterates that PDP in Katsina is one family with no splinter or factions whatsoever.
“From the official records, Salisu Uli was given an acting state PDP chairmanship appointment by the National Working Committee of the party.
“This is in consonance with the PDP Constitution which has always been put into use and accepted by all loyal party members without any complaint.”
Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council Senator Ibrahim Tsauri has said it clearly times without number that former Governor Ibrahim Shema remains the PDP leader in Katsina State.”