Former governor of Kaduna state, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has insisted that he is 100% behind Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, but decided to work at home for the party to reclaim Kaduna state.
Speaking to the media in Kaduna on Tuesday, Makarfi, who was former PDP National Caretaker Chairman, vowed to send All Progressives Congress (APC) away from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House.
This, he said, could only be achieved by working assiduously ahead of the forthcoming elections.
He said rather than tag along the presidential campaign train, he decided to remain at home to trash all threats that may work against PDP before and during the election in Kaduna state.
“I am 100 percent with our presidential candidate. I am at home working 100 percent to make sure that Kaduna returns to PDP. If you have a responsibility to remain at home you remain at home. That is the way. Politics is local, I have been at home leading the campaign here.
“If you noticed, hardly do you see me at the national rally. Because my personal opinion is that the work is at home, the work at home is enormous, and one needs to be at home to do the needful, not to be deceived. It is not about following candidates on campaign.
“The issue is the voters, APC has nothing to show to the voters that will make voters enthusiastic to voting for them. But they want to make use of money, religious sentiment, And from experience, this sentiment will take them nowhere.
“I believe people want a state that is fair and equitable. And PDP is structured in a way and manner that is fair and equitable for development in Nigeria. So for me, it is not show up at the rally, but about the people who are looking for an alternative, and that alternative is PDP which the people are happy to associate with.
“Each election always come with its difficulties and peculiarities. In 2019, we didn’t have Labour Party. To me, it is a challenge to PDP in certain part of the state. But again, the sentiment used in 2019 in some parts of the state is not the same sentiment used today.
“There are efforts to use the same sentiment by the ruling party. But, the rejection by the people is very obvious. So, there is dynamism in politics. Things are really changing. We have concerns, we have been engaging with people and we are progressing pretty well. I am very confident that we will win the 2023 elections in the state, and Nigeria.
“Well, I can say that we don’t have resources, but the ones we spend is our personal resources. The party in power use public resources. But, people are now wise. Up till 2015, PDP was in power, with over 20 states under its control. No matter the resources then, the opposition party took over government. People made up their minds.
“And I believe, this time around, the people have made up their minds because they are not satisfied with the APC government. So, no matter the amount of money they would spend, people are going to take their money and vote against them.
“You can also see that our party today in Kaduna has absolute acceptability by the people everywhere. The issue now is, let the election be free and fair. Some people think that with the BVAS the election cannot be manipulated. It can. And, I believe those in authority know it can. So, let us safeguard the electoral materials and equipment to make sure that unpatriotic elements in our country don’t subvert democracy,” Makarfi said.
