Fresh fact emerged yesterday on why Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State made a rush decision to declare his gubernatorial interest ahead of the 2015 general election. Governor Yero had penultimate Wednesday declared his gubernatorial ambition under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presence of thousands of party faithful including members of the State House of Assembly and members of the state executive council at the party’s secretariat. Though Yero said the decision to contest was informed by pressure mounted on him by people, LEADERSHIP Weekend exclusively gathered that the governor rashly declared the interest to despise his god-father, Vice President Namadi Sambo, who had told him not to run for the post. A reliable source told our correspondent that the presidency through the vice president had recently instructed the governor to jettison his guber ambition for a Southern Kaduna person to emerge the party’s flag-bearer, a decision the governor ignored and told the vice president that he was not going to step down his ambition for anybody. “The governor told the vice president that he will run for the election and that nobody can stop his ambition. He said until he is defeated at the party’s primaries, he was not going to step down for anybody. “You know Southern Kaduna elders as well as the youths have told the President, the Vice President and the PDP headquarters that they are not going to vote for the party in the state unless and until one of their own is made the PDP governorship flag-bearer. “They Southern Kaduna people have consistently warned the PDP to forget winning Kaduna election if Governor Yero uses his incumbency to get the party’s ticket, a threat the powers that be are taking serious considering the fact that PDP only exists in Southern Kaduna following the emergence of the All Progressive congress (APC). “And PDP is not ready to lose Kaduna to the opposition because of the growing unpopularity of the state governor. This is why vice president Sambo had to inform the governor to tarry a while and continue consultation before declaring his ambition,” our source said. Our correspondent further learnt that the governor’s rash declaration without the consent of his god-father is likely to affect the relationship of the duo which presumably started in 1997, when Yero joined Sambo at Nalado Nigeria Ltd as Chief Accountant. The sources said, “Yero’s declaration of interest, even though is his constitutional right is viewed as disrespect to a man that brought him to limelight.” It would be recalled that Southern Kaduna elders led by Senator Haruna Zego Aziz had in April this year, vowed to vote out Governor Yero in 2015 should he consider running for the office. However, when contacted, the Director of Media to the Kaduna state governor, Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki said “there is no any rift between the duo, it is the imagination of mischief makers. There was never a time the vice president directed the governor to jettison any guber aspiration. The governor is eligible to seek for re-election. “The governor is open to advice from the vice president as the former governor of the State. There is no love lost between the governor and the vice president.” Umar Sani, senior special assistant to the vice president, when also contacted said, “let me clearly state that the vice president has not directed anyone to jettison his ambition neither has he met with the aspirants privately or publicly on the issue of their aspiration. They are all members of the same family and shall work together to ensure the party triumphs over the opposition in Kaduna State.”
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 10:03:50 +0000
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