Nigeria: Gov Radda – ‘Katsina Is an APC State and Will Continue to Be an APC State’

Mr Radda said the APC was not afraid of elections and that it would go ahead to defeat the opposition during the forthcoming council polls.

Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, on Sunday declared that Katsina is an All Progressives Congress (APC) state and would continue to be so. He made the declaration at Ingawa Local Government Area, the venue of the campaign flag-off rally ahead of the 15 January council polls in the state.

Mr Radda said the APC was not afraid of elections and that it would go ahead to defeat the opposition during the forthcoming council polls. He boasted that with the achievements recorded by the APC at both state and federal levels, the party would easily win with majority votes during the 2027 general elections.

Shortly after presenting flags to the chairmanship and councillorship candidates that emerged from party’s primaries last year, Governor Radda tasked them to campaign in all nooks and crannies of their respective wards and local government areas.

He also urged other party leaders to carry the message of hope to the electorate while expressing confidence that the party would comprehensively win the local council elections.

Meanwhile, the governor’s media directorate has cleared the air regarding his verbal slip when he inadvertently mentioned ‘PDP’ in place of ‘APC’ during Sunday’s LG Polls campaign flag-off. The governor had unintentionally mentioned PDP instead of APC but quickly corrected himself while still speaking on the podium.

In a statement on Monday, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed reaffirmed Governor Radda’s total loyalty and commitment to the APC and its success in present and future elections. Mr Mohammed pointed out in the statement:

“Globally, verbal slip-ups are not just common but fundamentally human, and Governor Dikko Umaru Radda’s recent momentary linguistic deviation during the campaign flag-off at Ingawa Local Government testifies to the fact that the governor is human, like everyone reading this piece.

“To set the record straight, Governor Radda is one of the foundational members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) since 2014 and a stalwart of the party’s progressive ideology. Far from being a deliberate statement, the governor’s verbal slip points to a micro second of human fallibility that does not in any way diminish the governor’s unshakable commitment to the APC and its developmental agenda for Katsina state.

“Historically, this verbal inadvertencies is not peculiar to Governor Radda but is a recurring phenomenon across political spheres. At international level, politicians like U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron mistakenly referred to the United Kingdom as a “Christian country” when intending to discuss religious diversity. Let’s narrow it down to Nigeria, during the 2015 presidential campaign, former President Goodluck Jonathan accidentally pronounced “PDP” as “APC” in his speech.

“Similarly, Atiku Abubakar in 2018, mistakenly referenced “APC” while ciriticising the ruling party. In 2023, Peter Obi of Labour Party momentarily mixed up party nomenclature during a rally. It important to reiterate that these occurrences are universal human experiences rather than indicators of political unreliability.

“We have undivided loyalty and spirit, Katsina State under the leadership of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda anticipate the upcoming February 15th local government elections, where the APC is poised to secure historic victories across all 34 local government areas of the state.

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“To our electorates, the momentary verbal slip is nothing but a fleeting distraction from the substantive professional and progressive vision that the APC represents for the good people of Katsina state.”

The National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, who was special guest at the event, expressed confidence that the APC would win by a wide margin during the 15vJanuary council polls.

Mr Ganduje expressed delight that about 40,000 members from the opposition party had joined the APC in the state, even as he commended the state administration for its people-oriented policies and programmes.

The event was attended by thousands of APC stalwarts, members and supporters from across the 361 wards and 34 council areas. It witnessed the handing over of APC flags to candidates contesting for various positions in the February 15 election.

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