Senator Lado’s date with destiny, by Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani
On February 25, 2023, Presidential and National Assembly elections took place in Nigeria. Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on 11th March, 2023 in 28 states out of Nigeria’s 36 states. Katsina state is one of the states where a paradigm shift is imminent.
With a free, fair, and credible election, a change of leadership from the ruling APC to the main opposition PDP, is highly likely in the fifth most populous state in Nigeria according to 2006 census. Having contested three times for governor of Katsina State, Senator Lado now has a date with destiny on the fourth attempt.
The forthcoming gubernatorial election could not have come at a better time. As Nigeria is in dire straits, seeking new ideas, implementation of good old policies, all with a view to leading the country to the right path of sustainable development for the vastly endowed country.
This cannot happen until we clearly answer the questions of leadership from the centre to the subnational level. One state that is desperately in need of energetic, determined, visionary, and compassionate leadership, is Katsina State. A state blessed in all aspects. A state with the distinction of having produced two elected Nigerian presidents. This underscores the capability of an average Katsina person to excel beyond any limit.
Katsina’s march to greatness had been a continuous one from the creation of the state in 1987, to the tenure of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua as a governor, to the tenure of Barrister Shehu Shema, Katsinawa experienced what it meant to have leadership and really felt the impact across all sectors. For this current leadership of Rt Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, the people of Katsina State should be the judge.
Politics should not be an instrument to acquire power at the expense of the real issues. The fundamental issue before Katsina State is not where the leadership hails from but who is sufficiently ready to provide leadership for the masses at this precarious moment of Katsina’s 36 years period as a state.
The crucial matter before the voters on 11 March, 2023 is among the candidates, who has what it takes to start from day one, take the bull by the horns, and address the existential threats Katsina State face: banditry, kidnapping, famine, unemployment, poor healthcare delivery, a declining education sector, among others. This is no doubt a difficult task to execute but when you critically examine all the candidates: one stands tall amongst them.
A candidate who has shown time and again that he has Katsina state at heart and has never shied away from offering himself for service. He had contested three times to be the governor of Katsina State in 2011, 2015, and 2019. This is his fourth attempt to occupy the Muhammadu Buhari House as the governor of one northern Nigeria’s most strategic states.
Although all his three previous attempts differ, as he was just an aspirant in 2011 but one that would have ended up being the defunct CPC’s second governor in Nigeria, if he had been the candidate, the other being Governor Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa State.
In 2015 it was a different ball game, as the courageous Sen. Lado bravely contested under the platform of PDM as one man army and still made a huge political statement despite the wave of change at that epoch.
In 2019 he again stood for election, this time under the platform of People’s Democratic Party. As a gubernatorial candidate, with a sitting president vying for second term from his state, Sen. Yakubu Lado Danmarke gave the APC a run for their money and knowing that he was voted by the people, he chose to employ legitimate means to regain his mandate. He did this to the end, which proved the fact that with him as a governor, Katsina has a strong leader ever ready to fight for them until the very end.
If you study thoroughly this brief account of this astute leader, you would find a common denominator in all his political aspirations; the sincere effort to serve the people of Katsina. This can hardly be found in any of the candidates, especially that of the ruling party. The people of Katsina state are wise, versatile, and good thinkers. They now truly understand that the cap fits the man who was highly misconstrued, Sen. Lado.
Today, everything is clearer to the masses. All that had been used to paint Senator Lado black in the past elections have not made lives easier for the average Katsina man or woman from: Daura zone, Katsina, to Karaduwa zone. Rather the people have been subjected to untold hardship for want of a leader to confront the enemies of Katsina state and defeat them squarely. Sen. Lado will totally defeat them, if the people who the vast majority of them today identify with him, come out to make this date with history a memorable one for Katsina, Dakin Kara.
With Senator Lado, you have someone who has both private and public sector experience. A grassroot politician who has never forgotten his roots. Starting from the ward, he stood for election, and became the local government Chairman of Kankara local government in 1999.
If you ever doubt Sen. Yakubu’s credentials to wage a war against the bandits and comprehensively defeat them then go back and look at how he handled security in Kankara local with expertise. The charismatic then Kankara local government Chairman, Sen. Garba Lado Danmarke got it right and the people were secure from harm by criminals.
The difference is clear and now that the stakes are higher you can rest assured Sen. Lado would not rest one moment until the bandits are defeated, essential infrastructure reconstructed, the people rehabilitated, the people safely return to their homes, a functional security network established from the family unit, to the ward head, village head, district head; to their royal highnesses, up to the desk of the executive governor, where security, infrastructure, education, agriculture, welfare of the people, etc: will be the priority in Katsina state.
Sen. Lado is the clear favourite in this election because of his antecedents, the understanding nature of the Katsina people to play beneficial politics, and vote a competent leader who truly wants to serve them. A brave leader who believes in the rule of law, a listening leader with immense experience gathered serving the people with or without power.
In the history of dynasties, emirates, kingdoms, empires; it takes one person to dream, one decisive moment to upset the apple cart, unite the people, improve standard of living, bring joy to the people Insha Allah, and develop the state to the envy of the world: this is the time for Katsina state Insha Allah. Vote Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke massively to make Katsina State truly great.
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