Ex-SOKAPU president emerges Kaduna LP gov candidate

 Jonathan Asake, the recently-retired National President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, has emerged as the state's Labour Party governorship candidate. Former House of Representatives member Asake had formally resigned from his position as SOKAPU's leader to run for governor. Asake had declared that he has formally resigned and entered the governorship contest in response to the clarion call to run for the Sir Ibrahim Sir Kashim Government House in 2023. He had added, "What you've been hearing is now confirmed that I've responded to a clarion call by the people and by the larger population of Kaduna State that I should fight for the Gubernatorial election come 2023.

Asake won the endorsement of the party's delegates from all 23 Local Government Areas in the state at a substitution primary that the Independent National Electoral Commission oversaw at the NUT Hotel in Kaduna. This happened after Mr. Shunom Adiga, the previous "holder" of the party's governorship ticket in the state, resigned to make room for the former member of the House of Representatives. A quick decision was made to select Hon. Bashir Idris Aliyu, a former commissioner of works in Kaduna State and majority leader of the House of Assembly, as the LP candidate for governor in the state's 2023 election. 

Michael Ayuba-Auta, the party's senatorial candidate for the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District, and his running mate, a candidate for governor, proclaimed their party's intention to overthrow the All Progressives Congress in the state and restore it to its former glory. When thanking the delegates and party officials, Asake pledged that if elected as the state's next governor in 2023, he would "be governor to everyone, regardless of where you come from or your religion." The former congressman also stated that he would build a unity administration to bring the state's different population together and release a plan to address the state's pervasive insecurity.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the event, he stated, "I feel excited, but I also consider my co-resignation contestant's as a symbol of the kind of government we are going to form—a government of unity; a government of putting aside our own interests for the interests of the public at large. "When we arrive, we'll make sure that the administration is inclusive and that everyone is treated fairly. There will be less animosity when a leader accomplishes this. There will be tranquility, advancement, and development. The Labour Party is proposing that style of leadership for Nigeria. We are considering that as a possibility.

"I served as the national president of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, where I frequently visited attacked and uprooted communities. Additionally, it has been occurring throughout the entire state, not only in Kaduna, but across the entire nation.

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