2023: PDP is the Party to Beat in Kano – Dambatta
B Adnan Mukhtar & Ozumi Abdul
The Deputy Gubernatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano state, Dr Yusuf Bello Dambatta, has said the party is a formidable institution that cannot be wished away in Kano and Nigeria.
He said that the PDP has bred several men and women of great virtue and repute into enviable leadership positions, exuding the confidence that the party remains the party to beat in the 2023 general elections.
Danbata made these claims on Monday during an exclusive interview with POLITICS DIGEST crew in Kano.
The former Commissioner for Budget And Planning during the administration of Rabiu Kwankwaso was upbeat that his party is ‘seeing the greenlight’ of its impending victory in 2023.
“PDP has been an alternative platform for the good people of Kano state, taking into cognizance what the party has done in the past from 1999 to 2015,” he said.
When asked if the internal crisis rocking his party at the centre and the Governor Nyesom Wike-led rebellion will affect its presidential candidate’s success in 2023, Dambata dismissed such fears, saying there is no party in the country today without internal crisis.
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He added that the All Progressives Congress (APC) also has its internal wranglings which do not get enough media attention.
On the chances of Kwankwaso’s NNPP, Danbata played down what he described as “so much hyped political clout” of the former governor, recalling that Kwankwaso only won three elections in the state since 1999.
“Are you a student of history,” he asked rhetorically?
“Since 1999 till date, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso only won three elections in Kano state. He won the first election in 1999 when Abubakar Rimi and Ambassador Aminu Wali supported his candidature as the candidate of PDP, then lost in 2003 when he disagreed with them, then in 2007 PDP lost election because there was disagreement with those bigwigs.”
He continued, “then in 2011 there was a family reunion of the PDP and he won election under the platform of the same PDP. In 2015 there was a merger of ANPP, ACN, CPC, a faction of APGA and PDP, and at that time Nigerians were yearning for change, they were asking for anything but Jonathan due to insecurity and some other things, so that gave Kwankwaso the opportunity to win a senatorial election at that time,” he said.
He appealed to the people of Kano state to see the PDP as the only viable alternative to the APC and vote for the party at all levels.
