By Sadiq Sabo
As the 2023 general elections draws nearer, permutations, strategies and other political alliances, adjustments and realignments are heightened all in the hopes of wooing the electorates and of course, gaining a good ground ahead of the polls come next year.
The nation's electoral umpire, the independent national electoral commission (INEC), had last month, published the names of national assembly candidates under various platforms (political parties) and that has served as a harbinger and heralded the start of the electioneering campaigns especially as the September 28th date came and gone, ushering in the election season. The publication of names is the last in the political parties' process of fielding candidates, as that would cement the candidates' and their parties' resolve and aspirations and of course, spur them to begin the campaigns in earnest.
On the Plateau here, the case is no different. The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), which is the oldest political party in Nigeria so far, having been founded in 1978, is poised to making waves and clear as many seats as possible on the Plateau alone especially as it has fielded seventeen (17) candidates across the state from gubernatorial to senate, HoR to house of assembly seats and it's gaining momentum and far spread, thanks to its workerholic state chairman and his team of unrelenting state executive for their commitment and dedication to seeing the party becomes the force to reckon with that it is today.
In the contest for the seat of senator, Plateau North Senatorial district, it seems as the most interesting contest as the party has fielded one of the most experienced politicians, not just in the zone but on the Plateau, as far as politics is concerned. He is a football administrator for decades, a two-time member of the HoR, a grassroots politician and a highly detribalised gentleman with statewide appeal from all and sundry. He is none other than the senator-in-waiting, Hon. (Dr) Suleiman Yahaya Kwande. For a state so polarised on many faulty lines, the emergence of Kwande especially in a zone that has seen and experienced many upheavals, is a relief and a welcome development as his coming would help reunite the various ethnic nationalities and faiths that are within the zone.
His pedigree and antecedents when he held sway as the erstwhile member HoR, Bassa/Jos North federal constituency for two terms speak volumes. The other candidates under various platforms do not match his experience nor his pedigree and of course, judging by the litany of litigations their political parties are currently having, voting them in would amount to plunging the zone into political oblivion and that would in turn jettison the democratic dividends that the zone should enjoy, ordinarily.
Another point of reference is, while other candidates are banking on ethnic and religious biases, Kwande and the PRP are busy penetrating all the nooks and crannies of the zone, identifying with royal fathers, major stakeholders and the electorates in a bid to feel their pulse and to knowing exactly their demands. There's no gainsaying that, the PRP and Kwande project is a project for all the good people in the six local government areas making up the zone from Riyom in the far South of the North, to Jos East in the North-East to Jos North and Bassa in the North. Simply put: it's the peoples' project just as the party is!
Kwande and the PRP are the unifiers. As both the candidate and the party have both the wherewithal, the technical know-how, the reach, the sophistication, the empathy, experience and of course, the people to deliver and make Plateau North the envy of all on the Plateau. A vote for Kwande and the PRP is a vote for religious harmony, even development and a big win for democracy and Plateau North Senatorial district.
Sadiq Sabo is the State Publicity Secretary PRP and writes from Jos.
sabosadiq99@gmail.com
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