The running mate to Mr Isah Ashiru the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate of Kaduna State, Dr John Ayuba has described Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) as crucial to inclusive governance in the state.
Ayuba, a former Commissioner for Finance in the state, said this in Kaduna during a chat with Southern Kaduna Journalists’ Forum.
He called on the people to come out en masse to register for their cards as very critical to deciding elective positions in next year’s general elections.
He said the candidature of Ashiru provided the opportunity for inclusive governance that would ensure equal opportunity for every resident of the state, irrespective of religion and ethnicity.
He said the Southern Kaduna people got stuck with Ashiru because of his strong connection with the people of the area and his touch with rural communities.
He said the PDP under Ashiru if given the opportunity, would operate open governance that would be inclusive and gender-sensitive.
“Ashiru was part of the success stories of Sen. Ahmed Makarfi era from 1999 to 2007, who worked hard to close the divide between Northern and Southern parts of the state.
“We will work to improve our voting strength in the Southern part of the state and push for the support of the PDP to deliver good and inclusive governance to the people.
“We are confident that he will build bridges to connect the people of the state together and work as a united front for socio-economic development of the state,” he said.
He said 65 per cent of the voters were youths, even as he urged the journalists to galvanise the people to support the party because of its principle of fairness and inclusive governance.
Mr Ango Bally of Invicta FM who spoke on behalf of the forum, an interest group, said the objective of the meeting was to familiarise myself with the deputy governorship candidate.
Bally congratulated Ayuba, from Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of the state, on being picked as the running mate to Ashiru and urged him to represent the Southern Kaduna people well if elected to office.
He said while the people were yearning for change, the party must demonstrate seriousness to take over the political power and provide quality representation.
Mr Luka Binniyat of Epoch Times said the people would be willing to support the PDP, but it was yet to convince the people that it was ready to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Binniyat said the party needed to come out strongly and demonstrate the capacity to take power and deliver good governance.
He advised the PDP as the strong opposition to the APC to up their game otherwise they might lose next year’s general election.
Mr Bomba Dauda, Publisher of Gurara Accord pointed out that the Southern Kaduna people gave over 500,000 votes to the PDP in the 2019 general elections, while the Northern zone polled only 263,3440 votes for the party.
Dauda said to win next year’s general election, the governorship candidate needed to mobilise votes from his constituency to match what the Southern Kaduna people were doing for the party.