The internal crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina has widened ahead of the state congresses scheduled for July and August as some members of the state caretaker committee of the party accused its chairman of denying interested members access to forms.
It could be recalled that last week, some delegations of aspirants for different party positions from Katsina, Dutsinma, Malumfashi, Funtua, Mashi, and Kankia local government areas went to the state party headquarters to purchase the forms but did not meet any official to attend to them.
The delegation, led by a former chairman of the party, Alhaji Salisu Uli, addressed members of the press, where they raised concern over a suspicious move by the caretaker committee to highjack the forms in favour of a single individual.
The aggrieved party leaders yesterday stormed the PDP headquarters in Abuja, where they vented their anger and called for the intervention of the party's National Working Committee.
Addressing journalists after submitting their petition, the spokesperson for the aggrieved members, Ibrahim Abdullahi Tafashiya, said the party was at risk of losing additional members to other political parties if the chairman of the caretaker committee was not called to order.
"There is a disconnect between some of us as members of the caretaker committee and the chairman, Alhaji Musa A. Karim, for reasons best known to him.
"Since the release of the timetable and guidelines for the 2024 ward, local government, and state congresses by the national headquarters of the party, certain proactive procedural measures should have been put in place for the exercise to be successful, but nothing has been done.
"Specifically, these issues relate to the 361 wards, 34 local governments, and 39 state exco aspirants for Katsina State. We have collated about 7,101 members willing to purchase the forms so as to participate in the upcoming congresses but have been deprived access to purchase the forms.
"We are here at the national headquarters to be informed that the forms have been with the caretaker committee chairman since three weeks ago," he said.
It could also be recalled that the state caretaker committee of the PDP came into existence following a prolonged internal crisis in the party that led to two factional chairmen and other members of the state executive.
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The party crisis was hitherto between the former state governor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, and the 2023 governorship flag-bearer of the party, Senator Lado Danmarke. However, following the exit of Shema from the PDP, some members of his camp, including the current member of the House of Representatives representing Mashi/Dutsi federal constituency and former state chairman of the party, Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, teamed up with other party bigwigs, including the 2023 Atiku/Lado campaign director, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, and Senator Umar Ibrahim Tsauri, a former national secretary of the party, to form a faction against Lado's.
It was observed that the party's crisis in Katsina had put some of its major stakeholders in a dilemma, as they tend to keep silent over the problem.
Recall that last Saturday, the party's 2023 presidential flag-bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubar, who was on a Sallah homage visit to the state, only said, "There will soon be congresses so that people will elect who they want" when asked to comment on the crisis.
Katsina State has been key to the success of the PDP, as the party produced not only two governors from 1999 to 2015 but also a president in the person of the late Umaru Musa Yar'adua.
Similarly, in the 2023 elections, the PDP won the presidential election in the state, defeating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but when it came to the governorship election, the party was severely defeated by the APC in what many have attributed to the factionalisation of the party structure.
