The People`s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s leading opposition party, from every indication seems to be losing vitality in Kano State, ahead of the coming local council election slated to hold on the 16th of January, next year.
The loss of vitality in the party in the state is occasioned by the on-going fight for the control of the party among the two contending political groups in it, namely, the Kwankwasiyya Movement led by former governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and the Wali group led by the former minister of foreign affairs in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Aminu Wali.
The in-fighting which started before the 2019 general election has subsisted despite the recent High Court judgment declaring the pro-Kwankwaso faction of the party under the control of Shehu Sagagi, as the legally recognised executive committee of the party.
The Sagagi-led executive committee has also been declared by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, in Abuja, as the only leadership committee recognised by it, but, the Wali group, which is at the moment in a working relationship with the APC-controlled Ganduje administration in the state, has refused to let go its hands off the control of the party.
Another topical issue that is reinforcing the crisis within the party is the coming Local Council poll. While the Sagagi-controlled faction is not comfortable with the level of integrity of the state electoral umpire, the Wali-controlled group that is pro-Ganduje, in a press statement issued last Thursday after a state congress held at Kano Foundation Hall in the commercial city, confirmed its readiness to participate in the coming local government election.
The group has since directed its members across the 44 Local Government Areas of the state to scale-up their preparations for the election, noting that the decision of the pro-Kwankwaso group led by Sagagi does not represent the position of PDP on the election.
The group in a statement circulated widely in the state has gone-ahead to announce the expulsion of the former governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and its political group-the Kwankwasiyya Movement, from the party.
As the two groups intensified what seems to be the battle for the soul of the party, the state electoral body- Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC)- says it has perfected its preparations for the coming council poll, having taken delivery of most of the election materials the cost of which was put at about N2.3 billion.
The electoral body, which is being presided over by Garba Ibrahim Sheka, a professor of Political Science drawn from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) confirmed to BusinessDAY SUNDAY that the Commission had received most of the election materials that will be deployed for the Local Council Poll, as well as complete the recruitment of about 48,000 ad-hoc staff that will be involved in the conduct of the election.
Analysts are of the view that the unfolding development in the PDP is likely to rob it the opportunity of testing its popularity among the electorates in the state, ahead of the crucial 2023 general election in the country.
