In the aftermath of the victory of the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna Central, also known as Zone 2, considered to be a battleground in Kaduna State politics, observers have pointed out that a clearer picture has emerged about how the April 11 governorship election will play out in the state. This view is particularly predicated on the victory of Comrade Shehu Sani as the senator for the area.
Sani is a human rights activist and close confidant of the Kaduna State APC governorship candidate, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. In the view of party chieftains from the senatorial zone comprising of Kaduna North and Kaduna South LGAs that make up the state capital, the fact that the people voted for Sani was a clear indication that majority of the electorate both in the state capital and in the surrounding local government areas such as Chikun, Birnin-gwari, Giwa and Igabi, among others, would cast their votes for the APC governorship candidate.
While speaking in the course of an interview, the respondents posited that the APC in the zone had done much to mobilise and make voters buy into the APC manifesto as well as its candidates at various levels and this was one reason the pattern in voting in the area in the last election was not expected to be different in the governorship and State Assembly elections.
According to Mallam Jafaru Abdullahi, the Vice-Chairman of APC in Zone 2 where Sani won, the candidate was a man that was popular with the people, and being in the popular party in the zone it was not a surprise that he won. “Comrade Shehu Sani is a man in the heart of the majority of people. He worked hard for it. He is one of the candidates that went through all the local government areas to canvass for votes. I believe the April 11 election will return the same results for our party in this zone and I say this because of what I have seen myself. I have participated in the electioneering process right from the outset, so I know,” Abdullahi said.
He equally agreed with the observation that the outcome of the last election was an indication of where the pendulum would swing in the course of April 11 governorship election. According to him, the situation would remain the same because of the popularity of the APC governorship candidate and his deputy. “It will be the same because people have accepted El-Rufai as one of the best governorship candidates that Kaduna has ever got,” he explained. “You needed to see how people had to trek for long distances in order to cast their votes on March 28; it has never happened. If they don’t have love for you or your party, they would not have done that.”
The Vice-Chairman however strongly disagreed with the view that with the loss PDP suffered in the last election, and because of the boasting some of the PDP state governors had engaged in that they would do all they could to win their states, the next election might be rigged in favour of the ruling party in Kaduna State. “Personally, I don’t see how PDP can do that,” Abdullahi said, adding that what he saw was victory for his party in the next set of elections. For him, this is, “because of the general acceptance of the party by the public. This is a party that has promised to do better, to do good for the people and this is why people want to vote for it.”
The APC Women Leader for Kaduna State, Mrs Esther John, said no less in her response. In her view, the APC senatorial candidate in Zone 2, Sani, emerged as the winner because he was a good man loved by many and the electorate had the opportunity to cast their votes in an atmosphere of peace. “What happened was that in the last election people were allowed to cast their votes peacefully,” she said. “Shehu Sanni himself is a very good man. He is a man that will help Kaduna State to have good representation in the Senate. No one has worked harder in Zone 2 than him. He is a man that is kind, he is loving, and he cares about the people,” John said.
She was optimistic that what the electorate did for Sa8ni would be repeated for the party’s governorship candidate across the state. “People will come out on April 11 like they did in the last election. This is because you cannot compare someone like Mallam El-Rufai to the other candidates that are contesting with him for the same seat. People want Mallam El-Rufai, so what has happened in the last election will impact the April 11 governorship election. PDP’s candidates cannot be compared with our party’s candidates the way things stand, so we expect big victory for El-Rufai following victory of APC candidates such as Shehu Sani. People will come out and vote and they will even be more than what we witnessed in the last election,” she stated.
Asked if the APC women had relaxed as a result of the positive outcome of the last election for the party, she explained that the outcome of the last election had not lulled the women in the party to sleep, instead they had been taking their campaign across the state to ensure that the April 11 election recorded more success than in the past. “Even now as we speak, we have been going round to engage in campaigns. We have just returned from Kafanchan (Southern Kaduna) where we went to mobilise our women to ensure that they deliver votes to APC in the April 11 election. So we have not relaxed at all. Rather we are on the move. We want people to come out and vote for APC more than they did on March 28, and I believe that by the grace of God, Mallam El-Rufai will have the victory.”
As for Mallam Adamu Musa Taimako, a member of APC and a former chairman of the opposition party in Birnin-gwari (the CPC) that had transformed along with other parties to form the APC, he attributed the victory of the APC senatorial candidate to the hard work of the party as well as the strategy adopted. “What happened was that our party worked for all its candidates and because APC is already popular in Birnin-gwari and in the zone in general, victory was assured for the APC senatorial candidate. We flew our flag for all our candidates, so it was easy for our candidates to win,” the elderly politician stated. He agreed though that the outcome of the March 28 election would have an impact on the April 11 election. He based his optimism on the belief that the people had realised that their votes would count, so they would come out in larger numbers and vote in the next election. “What will happen is that so many people who did not know that the last election would not be manipulated would come out and vote.”
Another party chieftain and the Director-General of APC Campaign Organization for Birnin-gwari LGA, Garba Gambo Randagi, pointed out that the party had always known that its candidates would defeat PDP candidates, so it was no surprise that the senatorial candidate of the party won. “We have known we would defeat the PDP. The reason is because there are people that are after change, there are others who would not like to be in the minority; they wanted their votes to count. Since they knew majority of people here wanted change, they all voted for the popular party and its candidate in this zone,” Taimako said.
