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• Mischief makers want to discredit, cripple my leadership –Kayo, SOKAPU President
• Dissolution of present leadership necessary to preserve Southern Kaduna unity –Committee report
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
For years the people of the southern part of Kaduna State were politically and socially united under the auspices of Southern Kaduna People Union. However, in recent times, the house appears to have become divided against itself, making the union look like a toothless bulldog, unable to fight common enemies, but literarily turning daggers against itself.
It is on record that SOKAPU was formally registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as Southern Kaduna Peoples’ United-Association (SOKAPU) as against Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU). Though with same acronym.
From available checks by Sunday Sun, some factors such as in-house wrangling, accusations and counter accusations among officials of the union, power struggle over the soul of the union as well as undue external interference in the affairs of the union were responsible for the bad blood in the once united house.
Sunday Sun investigation revealed that some influential personalities from the zone who have tagged themselves as ‘Southern Kaduna Mafia’ vowed never to allow SOKAPU be itself, unless the house is cleaned up with election of new executive members of the union or a complete renaming of the union.
So far, according to Sunday Sun finding, some names have been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with the aim of renaming and replacing the SOKAPU by the mafia group.
Sunday Sun learnt from a source that, “Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) is the unregistered name of the Union which some dubious persons in Southern Kaduna have been taking advantage of, using a parallel association (Southern Kaduna Autochthones Community Development Associations aka SOKACDA) which they registered in 2015”.
Further investigation revealed that those behind the gambit who registered the new name with the aim of knocking SOKAPU out of existence, used traditional rulers in the zone in order to give credence to their alleged illegal struggle, to birth a new SOKAPU in the interest of ‘peace’.
It was also gathered that Southern Kaduna Leadership Council (SKLC) as a platform for promotion of Southern Kaduna Autochthones Community Development Association (SOKACDA), Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Organization (CIMBO) and other fora against and above the corporate interests of SOKAPU.
Sunday Sun noted that it was on record that some Christian religious leaders believed to be members of the southern Kaduna Mafia held a general assembly meeting on April 16, 2025 allegedly aiming at impeaching the President and dissolving SOKAPU to create a new union in replacement.
On the heels of this alleged hatchet job, the incumbent SOKAPU President, Tabara Samuel Kato, was accused by some members of executive council on many grounds, ranging from high-handedness, unilateral decision taking, abuse of the Union’s constitution to disregard for Exco and BOT members of the Union, among others.
One of the accusations against the President was that he was rude and often insulting EXCO members and talking down on them.
The President was also accused of not being qualified to run for SOKAPU presidency because he had never held any elective position in the union.
Also, the SOKAPU President was said to have singlehandedly disgraced members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the union who are mostly elderly persons in the community by dissolving the BOT after allegedly accusing them of bankruptcy and being morally corrupt.
In addition, the President was accused of singlehandedly reviewing the constitution of the union, as well as being accused of editing minutes of meetings to the extent of changing resolutions and imposed on the Exco in stark disregard to the responsibility of the secretary of the union.
It was also revealed that two official vehicles of the union were missing and all fingers pointed at the President.
There were other accusations against the president, including withholding the sum of N15 million for land purchase, among other accusations.
To this end, it was gathered that the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) intervened and set up a committee to find a lasting solution to the internal crisis. The committee was chaired by Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Nuhu Kure.
From the report of the seven-man committee as sighted by Sunday Sun, which was not dated, read in part: “All parties after the end of the meeting promised compliance and immediate withdrawal of all court cases. The President, Vice President and the Secretary held hands together and were prayed for by the chairman and members of the committee.
“The SKCLA Committee adopted the jointly agreed resolutions. If complied with, it will bring lasting solutions. However, the committee must observe that there were a few who did not believe that these solutions will work and were showing signs and insisting on the preconceived line of action.
“The committee, therefore, recommends that, if the current leadership cannot adhere to these resolutions and the crisis persists, the entire EXCO and other cadres of SOKAPU should be dissolved as recommended by one of the key leaders.
“If this becomes the case, the committee recommends that none of the current leaders should stand for election in order to allow for a fresh start. A new Caretaker Committee should be appointed to review/repair the constitution before conducting elections based on the reviewed constitution bearing in mind all the resolutions above.
“The Committee and SKCLA leadership has reached the agreement to invite the kings and chiefdoms from which all the development associations emanate to, as a matter of urgency, intervene. We see that the only solution that will solve this problem and save the unity of Southern Kaduna under SOKAPU is to dissolve the present EXCO in all the three tiers and organise a new election void of any of the members of the current executive.
“This they should do with the involvement and counsel of distinguished notable elders and clergy of Southern Kaduna in order to restore trust and the survival of the institution. Otherwise, the chiefs should agree to start a new representative body that will continue the work of the fathers.”
However, when Sunday Sun contacted SOKAPU President, Tabara Samuel Kato, who was elected and inaugurated on December 9, 2023, he debunked all the allegations against him, and faulted the Committee’s report.
Kato described those behind the crisis as mischief makers, “who are real Mafia trying to discredit and cripple my leadership of SOKAPU”.
Kato explained: “I was elected and inaugurated on December 09, 2023. The Southern Kaduna Peoples’ United-Association (also SOKAPU) is the registered name of the SOKAPU done by me on October 04, 2024 with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). I must tell you that members of SOKACDA are the ones selling the notion that I have jettisoned SOKAPU for SOKAPUA just to discredit my registration of SOKAPU as Southern Kaduna Peoples’ United-Association. United-Associations is a compound word which they are not ready to accept out of malice and mischief. You will understand the mischief and threats to peace that the members of SOKACDA represent in the region if you listen to my own side of the story very well.
“Before I react to those accusations against me, let me tell you something you do not know: prior to my election in December 2023, while I was campaigning for the presidency of SOKAPU, my opponents blackmailed me seriously, up to the Kaduna State government house, telling the governor that if I am given the opportunity to lead SOKAPU I will turn it upside down because I am a militant trained in Niger Delta.
“The State Government did not take this allegation light. So the Kaduna State Command of the Department of State Services investigated the allegation and at the end, found the allegation to be false. I challenge anybody to go to the DSS office in Kaduna or reach out to then Director of DSS (name withheld by Sunday Sun) to verify this.
“The intentions of my opponents in the race was to stop me from becoming SOKAPU President at all costs.
“Fortunately, as God would have it, it was the positive fallouts from the DSS investigation of my background that earned me recognition and support of His Excellency, Governor Uba Sani. To the glory of God I won the election.
“Today, the very people who went to government house to curry favours for themselves and malign, indict and criminalize me, having realized that the evil they planted against me turned out in my favour, are now going around our people that I am a stooge of Governor Uba Sani and the government house. They say whatever they want to say, all I know is that I am the President of SOKAPU today and I will do my best and leave the rest to God.
“Now, coming back to the accusations leveled against me as the President of SOKAPU that I was insulting the EXCO, it was never supported by any evidence. It only proved that it is the image they have chosen to create of me as their President just to demarket me for their own best reasons. One clear thing about this is that the corruption being fought by me must fight back, and the corrupt Exco members and their outside collaborators and sponsors are using them to fight me.
“On the allegation that I never held any elective position in SOKAPU is rather laughable. I was the pioneer Public Relations Officer (PRO) of SOKAPU for Kaduna South local government branch and environs for the period 1995 to 1998. I was the Assistant Secretary of Publicity Subcommittee of SOKAPU Movement for State Creation in 1995-1996. I was also a member of SOKAPU Constitution Review Committee 2018-2019. I have consistently remained an active contributor in SOKAPU affairs even as an ordinary member until I was beckoned on to contest as President in 2023.
“I also reject the accusation that I dissolved BOT of SOKAPU and labeled them corrupt persons. It was only four members of the BOT that were labeled morally bankrupt because they partook in the sharing of misappropriated funds of SOKAPU, which the BOT chairman, Elder Steven Bango admitted when I approached him with facts and figures.
“I was equally accused of editing and rewriting minutes of meetings. This allegation fits squarely into the character of the Secretary, Rev. Jerry because it was always a battle of wits getting Rev. Jerry to couch our minutes of meetings exactly in their true contexts. Of course, such reporting outside the true contexts must be corrected and most times Rev. Jerry evaded signing or vanished with such corrected minutes. This is self-blame parrying.
“The Secretary pointed fingers at me over alleged missing two official vehicles of the union. As a matter of fact, the Secretary knew that the two buses are not missing as at the time he was making this malicious allegation. The proofs are available with me. I can tell you that one of the vehicles is in my custody while the second one was with the youth Caretaker Committee chairman. It is surprising that the committee even left out this in its report. This is malicious aforethought,” Kato stated.
Meanwhile, SOKAPU President has rejected the report of the reconciliation committee handled by the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA), saying, “calling for the dissolution of SOKAPU’s executive members is likened to killing the parents, their children, and the grandchildren for the perceived ‘sins’ of the parents.
“By the above conclusion cum verdict of the committee, SOKAPU has been made the culprit while the other parties are exonerated of every wrong doing and misdeed. This is despite the fact that I presented unimpeachable evidences against the other parties, whereas they never presented evidences to the avalanche of allegations they presented.
“It should be noted that SOKAPU is a socio-cultural organization which membership cut across people of all faiths. The SKCLA is not among the administrative arm or organ of SOKAPU, but a Christian Association stakeholder of SOKAPU. As such it cannot decide in absolute terms other than be advisory for SOKAPU’s stakeholders’ group of other faiths. We also have SOKAMUDA (Southern Kaduna Muslims Development Association), and traditionalists who are also entitled to have a say in SOKAPU.
“The SKCLA failed the test of transparency and courage to do justice without fear or favour, as it predicated its decision to dissolve the three tiers of SOKAPU; National, Chapters and Branches on recommendation of one of the key leaders without mentioning the name of the key leader.
“There is no meeting worth itself and stake of the participants that one participant whose damning recommendation took the day cannot be mentioned. Unless the Southern Kaduna Leaders Council (SKLC) is now confirmed as a platform for coups against SOKAPU, this ought not to have happened,” Kato said.
