By Nahum Sule (Taraba State Correspondent)
The race for the 2023 governorship is gathering momentum in Taraba State. Aspirants for the top political office in the state are beginning to come out of their political cocoons. And the situation is the same in the two major parties in the state – the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In PDP, the ruling party in the state, the immediate-past PDP chairman, Victor Bala Kona; Danladi T Baido; Senate minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha; Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Josef Albasu Kunini, are so far the top party members who are scheming for the top job.
In APC, some of those warming up to hoist the governorship banner of the party (APC) so far, are Chief David Sabo Kente, the incumbent senator representing the Central geo-political zone of the state, Yusuf A. Yusuf, and the present minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, Irimiya Ezekiel Afukonyo, Abel Peter Jediel, among others.
For a state that has been governed by the PDP since 1999, the APC seemed poised to make appreciable inroads in 2015 with the late Senator Aisha Alhassan leading the onslaught. But that expedition failed, as the PDP, through its candidate and incumbent governor, Arc Darius Ishaku retained the state. By 2019 polls, the ruling party had consolidated. This was more so as Senator Alhassan returned to PDP.
But all hope was not lost for the APC as it was able to snatch the member representing Gashaka/Kurmi/Sardauna federal constituency in the House of Representatives, David Fuoh, from PDP in October 2020. This, according to pundits, proves that the APC is ready to give the ruling party a run for its money. This much was also observed when the leadership of the APC at the national level stormed the state to reconcile aggrieved party members.
More so, the ongoing rancor-free registration and revalidation exercise in the state further indicates that the reconciliation recently carried out seems to have yielded positive results.
The APC state chairman, Barrister Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, said some aggrieved PDP members are in discussions with them on how to pitch tent with the APC. El-Sudi said the ongoing registration “is a collective resolve and we must make sure that internally, we do the right things all the way”. He added that “First of all, we must allow all our members to revalidate their membership based on the guidelines given by our party. We have to give room for thousands who are yearning to join the party to come in”.
The PDP is also up and about to retain its ruling status. The party has raised an assessment committee to profile its structures across the 16 local government areas of the state to block all loopholes and strengthen its support base at the grassroots. While this task has been concluded and the reports being considered, skirmishes within the party have not ended. Still, the party believes this scenario won't hinder its victory in 2023.
The PDP state chairman, Col (rtd) Kefas Agbu, is optimistic that the committee would help the party win because his “administration carries the entire members of the party along in decision making,” he said.
While the parties continue to fine-tune ways of emerging victorious in the next election, eligible voters are wont to consider credible and acceptable candidates in casting their votes. Some of such persons who are card carriers of the two major political parties, said the era of voting for a particular political party is gone “as all, we are now interested in is how to catapult our dear state to the heights. So personally, I won’t hesitate to vote for credible and trusted persons irrespective of party differences “ said Musa Abubakar.
This is still the first quarter of 2021 but politicking ahead of the 2023 general election is already taking shape in the state. Already, in Jalingo, the state capital, the poster of Irimiya Ezekiel Afukonyo has flooded the street. But many Taraba ask: could he be the right candidate for the APC to trounce the PDP at the 2023 governorship polls? NNL.
