The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Hon Jonathan Asake has said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP good time is over in Kaduna State.
Hon Asake made statement in press conference held at Wonder Workd Hotel in Kafanchan, Wednesday
The conference was held to afford Asake the opportunity to clear the air on so many issues peddled about his candidature, especially by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, led by Mr Felix Hassan Hyet and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) under Rev Joseph Hayab.
“As soon as I picked the gubernatorial ticket of the Labour party in July 2022, all hell broke lose in the PDP in Kaduna State.
“First of all, Hassan Hyet went to the public and accused me of taking the N120m Wike Funds which Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State donated to the IDPs in Southern Kaduna through the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) when I was its President.
“When the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of SOKAPU submitted my handover report to the National Executive Committee (NEC), of SOKAPU, the report showed that we made purchases of relieve materials worth almost N60m. And I left N60, 954,000, which was widely reported in the media.
“As I made progress in my campaign, more allegations kept coming up especially by the PDP.
They went about poisoning people mind and sowing hatred towards me by claiming that I was being sponsored by Sen. Uba Sani, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) so that the votes of the 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Southern Kaduna will be split and Uba Sani will win and the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC will be sustained.
“This campaign of calumny and blackmail found room in the hearts of many, even when it is clear that the MM ticket in Kaduna State was caused by the fact that the people of Kaduna state, especially Southern Kaduna entrusted the PDP with its majority votes, but it went on and bungled it.
“Those who were convinced that my candidature will improve the chances of the APC retaining power are not scared that the same gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in 2019 and his handlers have recycled the same man who betrayed their mandate.
“I went on with my campaign from LGA to LGA garnering more supporters and building structures in an unprecedented rate never achieved by a new party in the state.
“The Presidential election came and went, and I can assure you that by the time the evidences we shall provide at the Presidential Election Tribunal would be over it would be proven that Peter Obi of the Labour party won in Kaduna State.
“As soon as the Presidential Election was over, another face of the blackmail and mudslinging was initiated and championship by the state CAN leadership in collaboration with the PDP state leadership.
“Using the network of CAN and some churches, they went about spreading falsehood against me.
On Sunday, 5th March, 2023, six days to the gubernatorial election now postponed, I was inundated with calls from my supporters and well wishers who were thrown into confusion.
“Some christian clergy climbed the alter, faced their congregation before God and affirmed that it had been agreed by all church denominations in the state that the church should vote for Isa Ashiru of the PDP. Some even claimed that I had stepped down my candidature for Isa Ashiru and that I have merged my campaigns with that of the PDP.
“This of cause is absolutely not true. It is complete fabrication and the church should not have been thrown into that kind of politics.
I had to come on air, address the Press and work assiduously to reduce that harm. And as God would have it, INEC shifted the date of the Gubernatorial and Hause of Assembly to the 18th March, 2023.
“This gave us more time to undo the misinformation fed our supporters. But the PDP only got more desperate. After spreading so many lies against me in vain, none of the leaders of the PDP could face me and ask for roundtable. Instead the resorted to using proxies to intimidate me to step down.
“In the last count they went as far as meeting our principal the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to put pressure on me to step down so that the APC does not win. Unknown to them, our leader understands their game.
Now, they have come up with a final plan.
They will be addressing a Press Conference tomorrow, Thursday 16th March, 2023 to announce the following:
That I was seen in Sir Ibrahim Kashim House (Kaduna State Government House) that I have been seen in a meeting with Uba Sani and Gov. Nasir el-Rufai.
That after the meeting, I was given N100m to continue destablising the PDP.
“They will want to convince the electorates that a vote for the Labour Party is a vote for the APC.
All these, of course are desperate lies. I have never and I will never sit with Uba Sani and Nasir el-Rufai for any kind of political deal. I have been in the forefront of attacking the evil policies and failures of the el-Rufai government far more than what the PDP is doing as the main opposition party in the state.
“I challenge anyone including el-Rufai and Uba Sani and the entire PDP to come up with a shred of evidence that we ever met not to talk of collecting money from any of them.
“My main aim of contesting is to exercise my constitutional right win election and provide effective and exemplary leadership for the people of Kaduna state as captured in my manifesto and the manifesto of our great party, the LP.
“Finally, I am appealing to the PDP to face their campaign and leave me alone. I was not in this contest when Ashiru contested alone against el-Rufai in 2019 and failed us woefully. Today he is in the race with many of us. The PDP knows that its good time in Kaduna State is over. “
