In a deliberate attempt to reposition the PDP in Kaduna State in the lead up to the 2023 General Elections and axpecially in the light of the party’s performance in the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in the State, the Caucus of the party in the State met in a crucial meeting and agreed the setting up of 2 Committees, the first to undertake a review of the 2019 General Elections in the State and a Road Map Committee to the next General Elections in 2023. Various sub-committees were set-up and duly inaugurated to achieve this noble objectives in consonance with the PDP guidelines on the Congresses scheduled for March/April 2020. The State Caucus agreed that positions held in the current Kaduna State PDP Exco be retained within the zones where such have been for the purposes and conduct of the Congresses, however, it was left for the zones to conduct their own internal zoning including rotation as may be necessary with the sole purpose of carrying the electorate along.
The State Caucus also agreed that (3) three principal elective offices were not to be zoned to any particular LGA.
This translated to the fact that any person within the zone desirous of contesting could put himself/herself forward for the election. The positions are the State Party Chairman, the State Deputy Chairman and the Party Secretary.
To this effect, any other decision by a lower body contradicting the decisions of the State Caucus remains null and void. Further down the line the issue of endorsement of any candidate violates the Constitutional rights of other constituents, doing this could lead to a repeat of the Zamfara episode.
In spite of the fact that membership of the Zonal Caucus Committee is already well known yet a meeting supposedly that of this Commmitte was held in on Monday 17 February 2020 in Kagoro, in attendance were only some bona fide Caucus members and some recruited individuals leaving out on purpose other members. In the end the recruited individuals took part in taking vital decisions including a confidence vote on the leadership of Hon.
Felix Hassan Hyat and therefore giving him a second tenure. It ough be noted that the notion of a second term is not automatic. That Hon Felix Hassan Hyat is holding on to the second term idea as if it is cast in iron is erroneous. There have been instances in our political history where Presidents and Governors have served for just one term and they were replaced as the electorate was dissatisfied with their performance.
That, some bona fide members were deliberately and on purpose not invited to the Kagoro meeting pre-supposes that the meeting was designed to achieve a specific pre-agreed outcome.
It was at this meeting that the discussion to again zone the PDP State Chairmanship to Kachia LGA was taken. This decision has not gone down well with the electorate of Zone 3. At that meeting the very vital question of whether the bona fide attendees consulted with their constituents before the meeting was asked and only one of them answered in the affirmative which also pre-supposes that there were no prior consultations with the constituents before the meeting.
Even so, any decision therefore, which supposedly distilled from the charade needs to be subjected to ratification by the Zonal Congress. In the circumstance therefore, any decision supposedly arrived at in this so called meeting remains a nullity.
If the PDP in Kaduna State is serious about repositioning itself in the march towards 2023, it is strongly advised that we go back to the drawing board.
It is very clear to even a pedestrian that the Hon Felix Hasssn Hyat led Exco of the PDP in Kaduna State is only interested in perpetuating itself in power in spite of a very poor record of service. It clearly does not matter to them how the party fares as long as they are holding to their positions. The Caucus of the PDP in the State has been concerned with injecting fresh blood into the State Exco so that the dwindling fortunes of the party in the State could be turned around.
It is important to note that under Hon Felix Hassan Hyat nothing of worth was recorded in the direction of turning the fortunes of the PDP to winning ways. It is imperative to highlight some of the short comings of the present leadership to include the following:-
In the last LGA elections held in June 2017, the PDP won in Kachia, Kagarko, Jaba, Sanga, Jema’a, Kauru, Z/kataf and Kajuru but the actual outcome was deliberately and on purpose manipulated by the APC in Sanga, Kagarko and Jaba on the directive of the State Governor to favour their candidate yet the leadership of the PDP remained mute up to this moment over this robbery.
In Kauru, the Counvil Chairman and the decamped to APC even when he contested and won on the platform of the PDP and to date, the Hon. Felix Hassan Hyat leadership of the PDP has remained mute.
In Kachia, the Local Government Chairman elected on the ticket of the PDP decamped to the APC. This took place in the State PDP Chairman own Local Government to date, the State Party Chairman has not deemed it necessary to make a statement on the matter.
In all of these, the State Party leadership did not find it worthy to address these abnormallies even in a press statement yet the entire State Exco is bent on manipulating the system so that they can continue to hold on to power. If this illegality is left unchallenged, there is the genuine fear that the totality of the efforts of the PDP 2023 Road Map will be a futile venture. Since the kernel of the State Caucus is to return the PDP back to the people, it is imperative that genuine Congresses are not only to be said to have been conducted but seen to have been conducted so that we can avoid the tragedy and a repeat of what happened in Zamfara and Rivers States.
There will be no short cut to the 2020 PDP Congresses in Kaduna State Insha Allah. The damage that some individuals are bent on inflicting on the PDP in Kaduna State must be avoided at all cost.
In the light of the foregoing, we strongly advice a return to the status quo ante Anybody therefore already parading himself as an anointed PDP State Chairman must be deluding himself. We are by this Press Release urging all passionate members of our party to remain calm while standing firm and insisting that the 2020 Congresses be free, fair and transparent devoid of rancor and acrimony. Thank you all.
Signed,
Kaduna State PDP Group For Transparent Congresses 2020