2011: "PDP Must Win Kano, Lagos’"

[Muhsin]

Written by Muideen Olaniyi & Sulaiman Bisalla, Abuja   
Wednesday, 21 October 2009 00:00

Prince Vicent Ogbulafor

Kano and Lagos States cannot continue to be ruled by opposition parties and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] intends to capture them in the 2011 general elections, its national chairman Prince Vincent Ogbulafor said in Abuja yesterday. The two states, this country's most populous and most commercial, are currently controlled by the All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP] and the Action Congress, respectively.   

Ogbulafor, who was speaking when the newly inaugurated members of the Kano State Executive Committee of the PDP paid him a courtesy visit, said the two states are of great importance to the party considering their status in Nigeria. He charged the leadership of the party in Kano State to unite all stakeholders in the state and bring it back into PDP's fold.   

He said, "Kano State is of great importance to us. It is a state with 44 local government areas, which is almost equal to 8 or 9 states considering the number of local government areas. The same thing is the case of Lagos State. There are some states that we can't joke with. Kano is ANPP. Does Kano deserve to be in ANPP? We want Kano to be, like my colleagues will say, in the basket of progressives. Go back, organize Kano State and return the state to PDP.   

"We challenge you to look for anybody who is not with you now but he or she is supposed to be with you so that they can join you to build Kano State. We need to be strong in Kano. It's a state with the largest number of local government areas and largest population in the North. We should win it back. Let it be a challenge to all of you. We will give your chairman necessary financial and usual support to win Kano State," Ogbulafor told the Kano delegation led by former state governor and one-time Defence Minister Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso.   

Responding to Ogbulafor, Kano State PDP Chairman Barrister Farouk Iya, who presented copies of inauguration CDs to the national chairman, said the party PDP is determined to win back the state in 2011.

Earlier, Kwankwaso had briefed the party's National Working Committee (NWC) on the State Congress on August 16 and the October 13th inauguration ceremony of the new state officials, describing the two programmes as successful.   

Kwankwaso, who said the officials were democratically elected, added that both state party leaders and followers, who are all major stakeholders, would be involved in the efforts to reposition the PDP and win Kano State back in 2011.

The party chieftain, who said the visit was to show their allegiance and total loyalty to the national leadership, also said PDP is very strong in Kano State.

Ogbulafor's statement drew sharp reactions yesterday, with AC's National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed saying it is a dream to think that PDP will win Lagos State in many years to come.

Speaking to Daily Trust on telephone, Mohammed said rather than wasting energy thinking of how to win Lagos, Ogbulafor should dissipate such energy in solving the riddles before him in Anambra and Plateau States before the next election.

"A man that can't solve the problem before him in Anambra State is now putting his eyes on Lagos and Kano. This is a tall dream. Let him manage the 27 states that the PDP snatched away first," he said.

According to him, Lagos will be the last state that the PDP will think of winning in view of the massive transformation going on. "Has he been to Lagos in recent times? Has he seen the rapid transformation that is going on in Lagos under the AC government? It will take a dream to think that PDP will win Lagos. We will certainly chase them away," the AC spokesman said.

Also reacting, Kano State Commissioner of Information and one time ANPP National Legal Adviser Alhaji Isa Haruna Dederi described Ogbulafor's comments as an empty boast, saying the Kano chapter of the party "cannot be shaken" by that.

Dederi, who was also a onetime ANPP state secretary, said the party is "indivisibly solidified" in Kano and is ready to "counter any attempt to divide it."

"For now, we will remain focussed in our vision," he said, adding however that power belongs to God and He gives it to whoever He wants.

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