SaharaReporters learnt that the state party Chairman, Hassan Hayat who is from Southern Kaduna, was said to have entered into a deal with Isah with a promise that he would be made the Deputy Governor.
One of the governorship aspirants under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, Isah Ashiru Kudan, has allegedly colluded with the state Chairman of the party, Hassan Hayat, to influence the delegates ahead of the primary election to favour his ambition.
SaharaReporters learnt that the state party Chairman, Hassan Hayat who is from Southern Kaduna, was said to have entered into a deal with Isah with a promise that he would be made the Deputy Governor.
This is already causing ripples in the party, as one of the governorship aspirants has also backed out of the primaries, citing irregularities.
Isah was accused of manipulating the process through the selection of the delegates from both ward and local government levels – an arrangement which triggered disaffection in the party, particularly among other aspirants.
Many delegates particularly those from Zaria were said to have been influenced and declared support for Ashiru.
SaharaReporters gathered that the party officials deliberately pruned down the number of delegates from ward and local government to enable them have total control over them.
Isah who is from Zaria in the Kudan Local Government Area is said to be favoured in this shoddy
arrangement of selecting three delegates from each ward which many aspirants described as undemocratic and attempt to shut out other aspirants from the contest.
A source within the party who spoke to SaharaReporters said, “Instead of including the elected party executives from the wards and local government, they only selected three people because the party wrote their names and will be easy to control and manipulate.”
Meanwhile it was learnt that some of the aggrieved aspirants had concluded plans to approach the court and get an injunction to stop the governorship primary scheduled for Thursday, May 26.
One of the aspirants, Barrister Sani Abbas was said to have been humiliated when the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, visited the state.
He was asked to leave the front seat and that it was allocated to Isah Ashiru.
Senator Shehu Sani who is also an aspirant appears to enjoy strong support from southern Kaduna and parts of Central Kaduna delegates.
There are seven aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket in the state which includes; Muktar Ramalan Yero, Sen Shehu Sani, Isah Ashiru Kudan, Sani SIDI, Haruna Saeed, Dr Datti Baba Ahmed and Barrister Sani Abbas.
Meanwhile, one of the aspirants, Senator Baba Ahmed withdrew from the race following a letter dated May 24, 2022, addressed to the chairman of the party expressing his disappointment over the discrepancies in the process.
The letter read in part, “Credible first-hand reports have apparently proved that anticipated changes in our politics are yet to hold and lessons yet unlearned as evidenced by the ongoing primaries, needless to give specifics.
"These are inconsistencies with my purpose of being in politics. I have consequently hereby respectfully withdrawn from the 2023 Governorship contest of Kaduna State under our great party.”
Efforts to reach the Chairman of the party and the governorship aspirant, Ashiru for reaction on the allegations were unsuccessful as several calls to their phones were not answered and they did not reply the text messages sent to them.