The stage is set for one of the biggest political battles in next year's elections in Nigeria. This follows the emergence of Senator Danjuma Tella La’ah as governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kaduna State in next year's elections. La’ah recently secured a comfortable victory polling 6,990 votes in the party’s primary election to defeat three other aspirants. The results as announced by the Returning Officer, Dr. Danlami Rukuje showed that Ibrahim Abdulkarim came second with 530 votes while Mohammed Sani Abbas scored 402 votes to place third and Zariyi Yusuf-Madaki received 194 votes. In a reaction, La’ah thanked party members for their support and said the party’s attention would now be focused on preparations for the 2027 governorship election with its State Chairman Mordecai Ibrahim, also emphasizing that the party would focus on issues and policies in its campaigns for the election. The Senator's emergence is generally believed to have followed the failure of stake holders in the party to reach consensus on a candidate. This publication can however authoritatively reveal the high wire political intrigues and manipulations behind the protracted delay in his emergence. The publication gathered that the delay was caused by intense behind the scene manipulations to frustrate the people of southern Kaduna from having an opportunity to produce a credible governorship candidate for the NDC in the State. The publication's investigations discovered that sustained efforts at the highest level were made to stop the Senator because of fears that he has the charisma and the grassroots popularity to mobilize the people of southern Kaduna behind his candidature which would endanger the political interests of the predominantly moslem northern Kaduna. Powerful interests in northern Kaduna fear that La'ah's emergence may result in the emancipation of southern Kaduna people from the prolonged political domination of their northern brothers. Like most States in Nigeria, the fear of political domination constantly reigns over Kaduna State since its creation with the mostly christian south consistently complaining of being marginalized in the political and development of the state. It was gathered that efforts of incumbent governor Uba Aani to court the sympathy of southern Kaduna people may however constitute a problem on La'ah's calculations. Since taking over from former Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Sani is said to have made efforts to placate people from the zone. One such effort is the choice of Mr. Jerry Adams as his running mate in the forthcoming elections. Adams, a billionaire businessman, hails from Kaura local government. Apart from Sani's efforts to placate southern Kaduna, another fear being expressed widely is that the late entry of the NDC candidate into the race may also constitute an obstacle. Luka Biniyat, spokesman of Middle Belt Forum thinks La'ah is not visible enough. Biniyat describes the NDC candidate as a politician who is very approachable and deeply entrenched at the grassroots but advises that he must enhance his visibility. "Senator La'ah has the potential to mobilize the entire southern Kaduna population behind him," Biniyat told this reporter in a telephone interview. "He however has to be more visible. You see, he came out for the governorship only after losing his re-election bid for the Senate, and his late emergence as candidate especially in a party that is not yet popular in Kaduna State, may pose a challenge. Though the Senator is very popular, he has to enhance his visibility; if he doesn't come out, there's nothing we can do."

Posted: 3weeks ago

Author: Editor in Chief

Current date: 18 October 2026