Zamfara governor defends endorsement of Kabiru Turaki as PDP consensus chairmanship candidate

By Kunle Sanni –

Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara State, has defended the endorsement of Kabiru Turaki, a former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, as the consensus candidate for the position of national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Northern PDP stakeholders had recently adopted Turaki at a meeting in Abuja ahead of the party’s national convention. The meeting was attended by Governors Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, Lawal, the current acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, and other prominent members of the PDP.

The PDP national convention to elect new members of the National Working Committee (NWC) is scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.

In August, the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) zoned the presidential ticket to the South, while the national chairmanship position was zoned to the North in line with party tradition. The position was further micro-zoned to the North-West, with former governors Ahmed Makarfi, Sule Lamido, and Turaki initially mentioned as potential contenders.

However, some PDP stakeholders from the North-West have rejected Turaki’s endorsement, claiming they were excluded from the Abuja meeting where the decision was made. They argued that an earlier meeting planned to deliberate on the matter had been postponed.

Reacting to the controversy on Friday during the inauguration of the accreditation sub-committee for the convention, Governor Lawal described the disagreement as a normal part of internal party politics.

“No matter what we do, some people will still be aggrieved. It is part of politics,” Lawal said in a report by TheCable newspaper. “What we are doing is to bring everybody together in the interest of the party. It is an ongoing process, and I can assure you that things will be okay. But it is normal to have agitations.”