PoliticsShekarau’s Defection to PDP And Political Implications

Shekarau’s Defection to PDP And Political Implications

THEWILL APP ADS 2

Former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, last Monday returned to the PDP in what political analysts described as a vital instrument in the 2023 general election.

Shekarau dumped the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was welcomed to the latter by its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and other leaders of the PDP, including former Vice President, Namadi Sambo; National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu; Deputy National Chairman, Illiya Damagum; Governor of Sokoto State and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal; Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku; former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; former governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna; and former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, among others

Speaking at the ceremony organised to welcome him to the PDP, Shekarau stated that he joined the PDP along with his supporters and promised to deliver the state to the party in 2023.

Glo

Announcing his defection, Shekarau had said, “I, Ibrahim Shekarau, hereby inform you that from Monday, August 29, 2022, my supporters and I have dumped the NNPP and joined the PDP,” he said.

While welcoming him, Atiku expressed the belief that Shekarau would help the PDP to remove the governing All Proressives Congress (APC) from power.

Okowa hailed Shekarau’s decision to join the PDP and expressed delight that the party was “working to build stronger alliances with capable leaders, ahead of the 2023 general election.”

The question one needs to ask is this: Can Shekarau deliver Kano State to the PDP? Can he walk the talk? How capable is he to deliver the state that also has another former state governor, Kwankwaso, as the presidential candidate of the NNPP and the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in the ruling APC.

Born November 5, 1955, Shekarau is, no doubt, an experienced grassroots politician. He was a former Minister of Education and two-term governor of Kano State. He was elected in April 2003 and re-elected in April 2007. He was one of the candidates who aspired to become president in the 2011 presidential election, which was eventually won by Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.

He was the driving force behind the creation of the local religious police, the “Hisbah Guard”, which enforces Sharia Law in Kano.

Shekarau initiated some large scale development projects in Kano. He also hosted some world leaders like the former German Chancellor Schroeder and Prince Charles, among others.

The Emir of Kano, Late Alhaji Ado Bayero, conferred on him the title of Sardauna of Kano, now of the leading emirate councilors.

He is reputed to have large followings in Kano State even after he left office as the governor.

However, it would be recalled that Shekarau had already made a move to the PDP when he dumped the APC in 2014, a few months before the 2015 general election.

His movement could not bring the desired change as the party’s candidate and incumbent President; Goodluck Jonathan polled 215,799 votes while Buhari polled 1,903,999 votes in Kano state.

Political Implication of Shekarau’s defection

Kano is one of the three states with the highest numbers of registered voters. The others are which Lagos and Kaduna. In fact, with 6, 026,850 registered voters, Kano is second to Lagos which has 7,155,920 registered voters.

The struggle for the control of Kano therefore remains very important to all the major presidential candidates.

Before Shekarau’s defection, Atiku Abubakar seemed to have been schemed out of contention in the state. The NNPP seemed to have the upper hand, with two former governors of the state running its affairs. The APC is the governing party in the state and the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje is a close ally of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

So looking at this background, one will realise that Shekarau’s movement to the PDP has also given the party a stake in Kano’s electoral configuration.

That the next presidential election will be a keenly contested one between the APC and the PDP, is admitting the obvious. APC currently controls four of the five states with the most registered voters. They are Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina States, while Rivers State, which is under the control of the PDP is looking shaky due to a crisis arising from the manner the with which the party picked its vice presidential candidate.

Still unresolved, the crisis has pitted an aggrieved Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State against the party and Atiku. It is feared that it might affect the performance of the PDP in Rivers as rival political parties appear to be subtly making overtures to Wike.

Shekarau’s return to the PDP has given the opposition the opportunity to put itself out there as a serious contender for the 2023 presidential election. Before the PDP presidential primary, the majority of the party’s leaders believed that in order to win the majority of votes in the North, they needed to field a northerner as presidential candidate. So it would not be out of place to say that the joy expressed by the leadership when Shekarau decided to pitch his tent with the PDP was justified.

Many leaders of the party from the South were at first opposed to the decision to field a northerner in the person of Atiku, despite the fact that another northerner was already enjoying two terms at the helm of the country, but those rooting for a presidential candidate from the North triumphed in the end.

With Shekarau now in its fold, the PDP has started the journey to victory in the 2023 general election on a solid note. First, the defection has reduced the influence of the NNPP in Kano nay the North, a region considered as its strong hold.

Analysts believe that what PDP must do now is to go all out to secure the North for Atiku and turn the regions controlled by other presidential candidates into the battlefield. The party’s in-road in Kano may be part of a bigger picture, which may leave the governing APC worried.

It would also be recalled that immediately Shekarau showed signs of pulling out of the NNPP, the leadership of the APC also held talks with him on the possibility of joining their party, but in the end, Shekarau refused their entreaties and joined the PDP.

However, with the NNPP also holding political heavyweights, Kano’s votes can be considered as uncertain for any political party.

About the Author

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AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

Ayo Esan, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

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