Ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention slated for Dec. 9, its Kaduna State chapter on Sunday resolved to vote Sen. Umar Ibrahim Tsauri for the position of National Secretary.
“The Kaduna State chapter has resolved to give its 72 votes to Tsauri from Katsina; he is our sole candidate for the position of National Secretary,” the state chairman, Mr Felix Hyat, said in Kaduna.
He spoke at a meeting of the delegates convened to welcome Tsauri on a visit to the state.
Hyat said that the Kaduna PDP opted to support Tsauri from Katsina State because his state had always supported Kaduna State at the national level.
He said that the leadership of the party had met other aspirants – former finance minister Nenadi Usman and Abubakar Mustapha, former PDP organising secretary – and pleaded with them to step down for Tsauri.
Hyat said that state chairmen of the party in the 19 northern states had met and ceded three positions to the north-west zone.
According to him, the position of National Woman Leader was zoned to Kebbi while the Zonal National Vice Chairman taken to Jigawa. Katsina got the nod for the National Secretary seat.
Tsauri, in an address to the delegates and the party executives, expressed confidence that the PDP would bounce back in the 2019 general elections.
He, however, said that the such success was only possible if tested and trusted leaders were elected at the National Convention.
Tsauri accused the ruling APC of “inflicting hardship on Nigerians”, and claimed that Nigerians were “generally hungry”.
The aspirant said that he was a founding member of the PDP and had the experience to lead the group to success in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Katsina State Chairman of the party, Alhaji Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, has appealed to the Kaduna delegates to support Tsauri’s bid to be National Secretary of the party.