Ex-SOKAPU president runs for governor of Kaduna under the LP

Jonathan Asake, the recently-retired National President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, has emerged as the state’s Labour Party governorship candidate.
Former House of Representatives member Asake had formally resigned from his position as SOKAPU’s leader to run for governor.
Asake had declared that he has formally resigned and entered the governorship contest in response to the clarion call to run for the Sir Ibrahim Sir Kashim Government House in 2023.
“What you’ve been hearing is now confirmed that I have answered a clarion call by people and by the larger people of Kaduna State that I should contest for the Gubernatorial election come 2023,” he had said.
Asake won the endorsement of the party’s delegates from all 23 Local Government Areas in the state at a substitution primary that the Independent National Electoral Commission oversaw at the NUT Hotel in Kaduna.
This happened after Mr. Shunom Adiga, the previous “holder” of the party’s governorship ticket in the state, resigned to make room for the former member of the House of Representatives.
A quick decision was made to select Hon. Bashir Idris Aliyu, a former commissioner of works in Kaduna State and majority leader of the House of Assembly, as the LP candidate for governor in the state’s 2023 election.
Michael Ayuba-Auta, the party’s senatorial candidate for the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District, and his running mate, a candidate for governor, proclaimed their party’s intention to overthrow the All Progressives Congress in the state and restore it to its former glory.
Asake, appreciating the delegates and party leaders, promised to “be governor to everybody irrespective of where you come from or your religion” if elected the next governor of the state come 2023.
The former congressman also stated that he would build a unity administration to bring the state’s different population together and release a plan to address the state’s pervasive insecurity.
Speaking to journalists soon after the incident, he said: “I feel excited, but I also see the stepping down of my co-contestant as a sign of the kind government we are going to form; a government of unity; a government of stepping down our individual and personal interest for the interest of the general public.
“When we come, we will ensure inclusiveness in government, justice, fairness for everybody. When a leader does this, there will be less rancour. There will be peace, progress, and development. That is the kind of leadership that the Labour Party is throwing up for Nigeria. That is the option that we are coming up with.
“I have worked as the national president of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, where I often visit communities that have been attacked and displaced. It has also been happening over all the state, not only in Kaduna but all over the country.”

GOGAN Media.