Zamfara political leadership: consolidating victory through visits and reunion!

Governor Shinkafi spoke his mind after the success of the recent Congress of the PDP in Zamfara State where many of his close associates won the major offices. Speaking at the special dinner organized in his honour by the office of the former Chief of staff Alhaji Musa Zubair (who is the new Secretary of […]

Governor Shinkafi spoke his mind after the success of the recent Congress of the PDP in Zamfara State where many of his close associates won the major offices.

Speaking at the special dinner organized in his honour by the office of the former Chief of staff Alhaji Musa Zubair (who is the new Secretary of the PDP state chapter), he challenged the leadership for service delivery, commitment and unity to sustain the PDP and the country’s democratic values.

It was as a result of this that leadership of PDP in Zamfara, under Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha, embarked on a thank you visit and advocacy meeting to find out ways of bringing unity and understanding among all the stakeholders of PDP in the state.

The visit was to afford them the opportunity to understand the major challenges to the survival of the PDP, its supremacy and unity in the political evolution of the youngest state.

Apart from Governor Shinkafi, elders and various sections of the party advised the new leadership to reconstruct the structure of the party, so that it can accommodate and carry along all categories of the people of Zamfara, including non party members. This is necessary in order to show appreciation to all those who have contributed in the recent election of the party’s leadership and general development of the PDP in Zamfara State.

That was why the party decided to pay courtesy calls on Tuesday and Wednesday last week on its stakeholders that had given their support in the success of the just concluded party leadership elections.

The Leadership visited the State House of Assembly to woo honourable members of the state to join its fold, and also solicited their cooperation in the area of building good working relationship with the party.

The visit, which was the first of its kind in the state, was a success according to reports, as issues bordering on the development, security, as well as the need for unity among PDP members in Zamfara State were discussed.

The PDP delegation that went on the courtesy calls included all the newly elected executives of the party headed by its chairman Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha, his secretary, Alhaji Musa Zubairu Nasarrawa Mai layi, as well as Alhaji Saddi Daki Takwas, among others. The PDP newly elected executives’ next point of call was the Zamfara State Security Service (SSS) headquarters, where they were received by the Director of the Service Alhaji Abubakar Ningi in his office.

The director advised the party leaders to put aside all election victory celebrations and concentrate more on facing the challenges of reconstructing their party as well as unifying its members, so as to ensure peaceful co-existence and the development of the state. Alhaji Abubakar also called on the chairman and his executives to map out a plan of action for the establishment of unity and progress among its members both in the urban and rural areas so as to forestall any possibility of future disharmony and misunderstanding among them.

Alhaji Ningi expressed dismay at the way some so-called politicians are bent on destroying the good name of Zamfara State in their bid to secure prominence by all means, through irresponsible and unpatriotic activities, saying such people should be discouraged.

The Director also appealed to members of all the other political parties to realize the importance of peaceful co-existence in the state. He also thanked the PDP executives for the honour done to him by the visit, which was the first of its kind for showing appreciation to the security outfit for the services it is rendering to the nation.

In their response, the Zamfara State PDP chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha, and his secretary, Alhaji Musa Zubairu, reassured the Director SSS of their party’s commitment in seeing to the political, social and economic development of Zamfara State through the party’s stance in maintaining a peaceful and harmonious existence in the state.

The entourage also called on the management of the state owned radio and television stations, the FM Pride station as well as the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Hajiya Maimuna Garba of the NTA, Alhaji Garba Tunau Mafara of the Zamfara State Radio and Television stations, and Alhaji Alhassan Paki of  the FM Pride  radio station all called on the PDP leadership to look into how they can assist the stations in order to serve the public better..

In their responses, both Mallaha and Musa Zubair elaborated the need of the media to be alive on their responsibility of ensuring fair and accurate reporting..

They warned them to be hard-working and dedicated to their jobs for the betterment of society and that they should also respect culture and values of people of Zamfara state.

After the stations visit, the PDP leadership visited NUJ centre as their last lap of the tour. At the centre they were received by Alhaji Suleiman Haidara, out-going chairman of the NUJ state Council and Alhaji Maiharaji Altine, Chairman Correspondent Chapel of the NUJ, who congratulated the new PDP leadership and commended their foresight in visiting journalists to solicit their cooperation.

According to them, the visit is first of its kind by any elected leader since the creation of Zamfara State. They attributed the success of the PDP congress to Governor Shinkafi’s hard-work, commitment and giant strides that are aimed at bringing development and political understanding in the state.

Alhaji Haidara endorsed the new leadership of PDP by assuring them of best working relationship with NUJ state council. He described the new leadership as people of high integrity and respect to the Zamfarawa.

Both Mallaha and Musa Zubairu in their responses called on full commitment to duty, positive, balanced and fear of God in reporting activities affecting Zamfara state government and politics.

Yusuf Dingyadi, Sokoto. (Freelance Journalist) No 88 Emir Yahaya Road, Sokoto