Political leaders and their allies in Taraba State have returned to the trenches ahead of the 2023 general election. The Nation gathered that the next governorship election in the state promises to be a fierce one on account of the issues currently trending during discussions of the forthcoming election across the state. Already, the race has gathered momentum as aspirants for the top political office in the state are beginning to come out of their political cocoons amidst a fierce debate over which of the three senatorial districts of the state should produce the next governor.
Pundits say the situation is the same in the two major parties in the state, namely the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC). The Nation gathered that an alleged zoning arrangement that has been observed in the state since 1999 in determining which of the three zones produces the governor, is leading the many issues being considered by stakeholders ahead of the election.
According to Abubakar Lau, the state’s coordinator of Coalition for Democracy (CFD), both the ruling PDP and the opposition APC are conscious of the ongoing debate about zoning and none of the two is willing to make any mistake regarding the agitations of the people of the various zones. “For a state that has been governed by the PDP since 1999, and with the APC determined to build on its recent successes and make appreciable inroads in 2023, the cautions being exhibited by the two parties is understandable. It is obvious that this zoning is one of the factors that will determine where the pendulum will swing in 2023 here in Taraba State and only an unserious political party will handle such an issue carelessly,” he said.
With all the three senatorial district having tasted the governorship seat, the raging arguments, The Nation gathered, are in two folds. “We have those who insist that there has never been a zoning arrangement in the state and governors of the state have always emerged in open contests while there are those who say it is the zoning arrangement that ensured that all the three districts tasted the governorship between 1999 and today. This is just as a fresh debate on where the zoning arrangement should continue for is now raging,” Lau said. As we speak, neither the PDP not the APC has given any idea of what they plan to do as regards zoning the 2023 governorship tickets.
The indecision of some political parties on the zoning agitations is believed to be responsible for the reluctance of some politicians being touted as aspirants, to declare their ambitions. “Many of them are still bidding their time about declaring their ambitions publicly or making some political moves because they want to see what their various political parties will decide concerning zoning. Whatever the PDP and the APC come up with concerning the agitations for zoning will determine the aspirations of many of the current contenders and they all know that for certain,” Lau said.
The arguments
When the Taraba State PDP chairman, Lt. Col. Kefas Agbu (rtd) recently hinted that the party will maintain a zoning arrangement in choosing its governorship candidate in 2023, some prominent chieftains of the party in the state publicly faulted him, claiming the party boss spoke for himself. “Whatever is agreed by the party will be followed for our candidate to emerge. Remember, I am a product of zoning. It is zoning that brought me here. So I don’t think there’s anything that changed, I am not aware. Even with the zoning, we want the best person to emerge,” Agbu said.
The Nation also learnt that Governor Dariu Ishaku is a staunch supporter of the zoning principle. While he is yet to reveal who his preferred candidate is, the governor has not left anyone in doubt of his resolve not to support any candidate from the same Taraba South senatorial district as himself in 2023. “The governor strongly believes his own senatorial district should be exempted from the 2023 governorship race. He believes in the zoning arrangement and will want the party to abide with it,” an aide told The Nation on phone.
“In practical terms, the zoning arrangement has worked in Taraba and the people of our dear state want the system to continue. We urge the political class to avoid doing anything that will disrupt the arrangement. Jolly Nyame from the northern zone first took the mantle after which the late Danbaba Suntai from the central zone took over and now incumbent Darius Ishaku from the south. The zoning arrangement has been observed by the PDP which has been in power since the coming of civilian rule in 1999,” Ahmed Bape, a pro democracy activist, said.
Within the opposition APC, there is a lull in the agitation for power to shift. This may be because the party has not been in power in Taraba State before. Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, representing Taraba South in the national assembly, while responding to a question on whether his intention to contest the 2023 governorship elections was not against the power sharing arrangement in the state, explained that since all the three zones of the state had had the opportunity to produce the governor of the state at one time or the other, the contest should be thrown open to all the zones to participate.
Bwacha argued further that if the alleged zoning was to be continued, it should start from the last zone that produced the current governor and gradually rotate back to where it started from. By implication, the Senator, who recently dumped the ruling PDP in the state for the opposition APC, is saying that the northern and central zones should hold on while Taraba South should continue in office after Ishaku. It is after this that the central zone and then the northern zone will take their turns.
But there are chieftains of the party, especially from the north and central zones, who are supporting the clamour for power shift based on what they described as the existing power sharing formula in the state since 1999. To them, the southern senatorial district should excuse itself from the race. Expectedly, many aspirants from the north and central zones are seeking the ticket of the opposition party. But their southern counterparts are not deterred by the zoning debate.
Instead, the likes of David Sabo Kente, Danladi Kifasi and Ezekiel Afukunyo have remained in the race. A former deputy governor of the state said “APC cannot ignore zoning issue. Even our chieftains in Taraba south are now saying since previous APC governorship candidates had emerged from the northern zone, the next candidate of the party should come from the southern zone. They want the zone to be given the chances of producing the APC candidate for fairness within the party. So, it is an issue we are looking at.”
The aspirants and the permutations
Former PDP chairman in the state, Victor Kona, has already purchased his governorship nomination and expression of interest forms to signal his readiness for the race. Currently being touted as the preferred candidate of Governor Ishaku, the ex-party boss says he is determined to emerge as the next governor of the state. The decision of current party boss, Agbu escorted Kona to Abuja to purchase the form is already generating controversies amidst claims that the duo also obtained a senatorial nomination form for Governor Ishaku.
But the state chapter of the PDP on Tuesday assured that the party would allow a level playing field for aspirants during primaries. Agbu stated this during a stakeholders meeting in Jalingo. He said the desire for credible leaders and the transformation of Taraba would fail if the people are overruled and impose with a candidate during the process. “We have no anointed candidate, everybody is free to contest and win the election. We have no crack in PDP, we have been winning and we are set again to win”. Agbu assured.
Among those rumoured to be waiting for their parties’ position on the zoning agitation in their bid to rule the state come 2023 are Dr. Anthony Manzo, Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, Bala Kona and Senator Yusuf Abu Yusuf of Taraba Central, among others. Many of these aspirants are yet to make categorical statements on their ambitions largely due to the ongoing zoning debate. Also in the race is Garba Umar, a former deputy and later acting governor of the state.
So far Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi, Deputy to late Governor Danbaba Suntai who was impeached and later reinstated by a Supreme Court judgement has shown interest. Danladi who later became the acting governor of the state was the flag bearer of the APC in 2019. He hails from Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Similarly, Chief David Sabo Kente appears unstoppable in his determination to clinch the APC ticket. A grassroots politician who is not a new comer to the race, Kente enjoys both the sympathy and admiration of the people across the state. Kente comes from Wukari Local government area of the state and is seen as one of those favoured by the zoning agitations. His firm grip on the APC structure across the state is also seen as an advantage.
Meanwhile, Senator Bwacha, according to his close aides, will contest the 2023 governorship election come what may. “He is in the race to win and will not back down for any reason,” an aide said on Thursday. The Taraba South politician was appointed as Commissioner for Agriculture in 1999 by the then Governor Jolly Nyame. In 2003, he contested and was elected to represent Donga/Ussa/Taking Federal Constituency of Taraba State under the PDP platform. He is presently a third-term Senator representing Taraba South Senatorial and was the Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate. He dumped the PDP for the APC recently. The current Speaker of the state assembly, Joseph Kunini is an academician and politician who has also shown seriousness in the quest for the ticket of the PDP. While some pundits say he will not enter the race without the go ahead of Governor Ishaku, others say he is being propelled by zoning agitators back home. He hails from Kunini, Lau Local Government Area of Taraba state. Prior to his election as Speaker in December 2019, he was the Majority Leader of the State Assembly.
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