After several weeks of waiting, the Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, and stakeholders from Zone C, comprising of Kontagora and Borgu Emirates,on Sunday endorsed the gubernatorial candidature of Alhaji Umar Nasko for the Peoples Democratic Party ticket.
The primaries will hold in December.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting at his residence in Minna, Governor Aliyu said stakeholders unanimously endorsed the aspiration of Nasco, his former Chief of Staff.
Aliyu said Nasko had been his preferred choice amongst those seeking the ticket and that he had consulted with many stakeholders before Sunday’s meeting in line with democratic ethos.
According to him: “I believe we are together on this issue.
“I am interested on who succeeds me as the governor, hence the grooming of some people in my cabinet from the inception of my administration.
“But I have not forgotten how God does things.”
All the seven persons that spoke at the meeting on behalf of other stakeholders of the zone had told him to make up his mind on his choice and stand by it as they were prepared to endorse it 100 per cent.
Governor Aliyu stated that those arguing over the issues of age should remember that the former governors of the state such as the then Navy Commodore Murtala Nyako, Colonel David Mark and Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim were under 40 years of age and performed creditable in governing the state.
He said the party in the zone is expected to form three committees at the Zonal, Emirates and Local Government Areas to speak to other interested parties in order to avoid unnecessary problems before and after the primaries.
Aliyu noted that the party must work hard towards ensuring that it retains all its elective seats and win more in the forthcoming elections slated for next year as the opposition had teamed up against the PDP to give it a good fight, “but we shall overcome them”.
The PDP state Secretary, Alhaji Aminu Yusuf, stated that the party officials from the zone shall give its 100 per cent support to the governor’s preferred aspirant during the party primaries.
Yusuf said: “What so ever he direct us, we shall abide by it.”
Others speakers also told the governor that they had resolved to back Nasko during the party’s primaries slated for December as Aliyu had touch their lives in many ways.
Over 200 stakeholders attended the meeting.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
