..Picks ex-majority leader as running mate
By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The immediate past National President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Hon. Jonathan Asake, has emerged the Labour Party Governorship candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.
Asake, a former House of Representatives member, had recently resigned officially from SOKAPU as president of the Union to join the governorship race.
Hon. Asake had earlier said join the Governorship race to answer the clarion call of majority of his people asking him to join the race to Sir Ibrahim Sir Kashim Government House, come 2023.
“What you’ve been hearing is now confirmed that I have answered a clarion call by people and by the larger people of Kaduna State that I should contest the Gubernatorial election come 2023,” he had said.
In a substitution primary supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission held at the NUT Hotel, Kaduna, Asake emerged the LP Governorship candidate through affirmation by the party’s delegates from across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
This was after his opponent earlier in charged of the party’s Governorship ticket in the state, Mr. Shunom Adinga, stepped down for Hon. Asake, the former House of Representatives member.
In a swift move, a former Majority Leader in the House of Assembly and also a former Commissioner of Works in Kaduna State, Hon. Bashir Idris Aliyu, was picked as the running mate to the LP governorship candidate 2023.
Hon. Asake, while appreciating the delegates and party leaders, promised to “be governor to everybody irrespective of your tribes or your religion” if elected next governor of the state, come 2023.
The former lawmaker also promised to roll out blueprint to tackle the intractable insecurity across the state while also adding that he would form a government of unity to unite the diverse people of the state.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the event, he said, “I feel excited but I also see the stepping down of my co-contestant as a sign of the kind government we are going to form; a government of unity; a government of stepping down our individual and personal interest for the interest of the general public.
“When we come, we will ensure inclusiveness in government, justice, fairness for everybody. When a leader does this, there will be less rancour. There will be peace, progress and development. That is the kind of leadership that the Labour Party is throwing up for Nigeria. That is the option that we are coming up with.
“I have worked as the national president of SOKAPU, where I often times visit communities that have been attacked and displaced and it has also been happening over all the state, not only in Kaduna but all over the country.
“The Basie essence of government anywhere in the world is to provide security and the well-being of the people and where a government fail to provide those basic constitutional requirement, that government losses its own legitimacy. So, the Labour Party is throwing up leaders that have the security of the people at the top of their heart.
“I am coming as a leader that will ensure security of lives and properties, first and foremost and provide well-being of the people – infrastructure for the people all over the place. I will not be a leader that’s sectional. I will not want to be a leader that is divided along sentimental lines because all about leadership, is about humanity and that is what the Labour Party is throwing up for you.
“I am also very sure that Nigerians and indeed, the people of Kaduna State, have seen the difference, that they have manipulated our diversity and it has reached the peak and we now know the difference and that all that matters, is good leadership where the people will be happy and that is what we are out to do.”
