In a significant political shift, former Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) governorship candidate for the 2023 election, Suleiman Hunkuyi, have defended their recent defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The duo cited their commitment to contributing to the ‘purposeful leadership’ of Governor Uba Sani as the primary motivation for their move.
Yero and Hunkuyi, a former senator in the 8th Assembly, joined other prominent opposition figures, including Senators Shehu Sani and Danjuma La’ah, in officially switching allegiance to the APC.
Others include Abubakar Mustapha, Jafaru Kogi, Donatus Mathew, Amos Magaji, Henry Zachariah and Samuel Kambai
The rest are Emmanuel Kantiok, Muh’d Shaaban, Sule Buba, Yakubu Barde, Mato Dogara, Micheal Auta, Joseph Ciroma, Bashir Aya and Muhammad Aliyu.
While the defection rally was ongoing, former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal.accused them of doing so because of “stomach infrastructure.”
Yero, who became a governor,following the death of Patrick Yakowa in a helicopter crash in 2012, said he was not surprised that opposition party leaders in the state now call ‘’us paper weights’’ after their failed pleas to have them stay back.
He predicted that the APC would in the coming months witness an influx of opposition party members that would make its victory in the 2027 polls sure.
His words: “Governor Uba Sani has within less than two years brought positive changes to governance. He has initiated a lot of rural transformation projects.
“These are the things we have seen in Governor Uba Sani. He is a leader that listens and carries everyone along irrespective of ethno-religious backgrounds and even political affiliation.
“Our coming into the APC will in the coming months signal influx of other opposition members. And I am sure the APC will be just to all of us and treat us like every other APC member. This will show the people who are still contemplating that.this is the right place to be.
“The APC should know that we are not here to fight or cause crisis in the ruling party. Zll we want is justice and fairness. Chieftains of our former parties have not left us. Up till a few days back, they were still reaching out to see whether they could hold us back in the PDP and other parties, but we told them we have made up our minds to join the APC.
“When our former parties failed to hold us back, they are now calling us paperweights, but we are going to show them by 2027 who are the real paperweights.
“We are not going to fight with anyone, but we will contribute our quota and we are confident that APC will emerge victorious in the presidential, governorship, National Assembly and Houses of Assembly elections.”
Hunkuyi said he was humbled by Governor Sani for reaching out to ‘’all the people chased out of the APC by the former Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i.’’
“I am one of the founding members of the APC in Kaduna, but while the journey was going on smoothly, the driver of the vehicle matched the brake and asked some of us to drop from the vehicle. We dropped without arguing. But we thank God that Governor Uba Sani went round all the places where people were dropped and picked us back into the vehicle,” he said.
Hunkuyi described the governor as a just leader who ‘’succeeded in bringing us back to the APC.”
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