By Joseph Edegbo
A PDP Gubernatorial Aspirant in Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria, Isa Ashiru has vowed to revisit the case of what he called unfair mass sack of workers by the el-Rufai led Administration when elected governor
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had claimed that not less than 35,000 workers in Kaduna state were retrenched from work in the past 3 years under controversial circumstances.
Ashiru , also promised to tackle what he described as ‘unacceptable’ level of insecurity in the state and the widened socio-political gap between the people of the North and Southern part of the state.
The two-time member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2007 and House of Reps member (PDP, Kudan/Makarfi Federal Constituency) from 2007 to 2015, gave the assurance in Kafanchan, Jemaa Local Government Area (LGA) in continuation of his consultation visits to LGA/Ward officials and delegates to the September Primaries of the party.
He said: “Our state has never witnessed the kind of backwardness we are now forced into. It is very unfair to lay off thousands of workers at a time when other alternatives are very hard. You cannot arbitrary sack thousands of workers and refuse to pay them their entitlements knowing fully well that hundreds of thousands depend on then to feed. When you do so, you are only creating more insecurity and social problems. When I get the ticket of the PDP, it will be easy for our party to win the elections, and we shall look into the matter and ensure justice for all that were unjustly forced out of their jobs. I just want to plead with them to endure for the next few months that the present bad leadership in the state will last,” he told the crowd.
According to him, his team has made a blue print for the rebuilding of the once bubbling economy of Kaduna state and a model for genuine reconciliation between the people of North and Southern parts of the state.
“I have been privileged to travel throughout this vast state and I know every major village while I was the Chairman of Appropriation Committee of the KDHA,” he said.
“I have made great and enduring friendship among ordinary and important individuals in Southern part of the state and I am from northern part of the state. It will be easy for everyone to trust me and work with those that will help forge reconciliation unity among us. I have been part of Southern Kaduna right when I was a child, because my senior brother is married to a Bajju woman in Unguwan Rimi, Bajju where I also visit as my second home. What the present government is doing is to make it look as if the northern part hates the southern part. I want to assure you that those in the northern part are not better off than our people here in terms of suffering and marginalisation. Those who have never lived in Kaduna state have deliberately brought in and they have taken over our economy and administration and they are destroying the state. If by the grace of God, I become governor, I shall bridge the gap between the people of Kaduna state,” he said.
“As a true native of Kaduna state, I have developed a master plan to rebuild our economy and remove the unacceptable level of insecurity in the state, because it looks like that those who should be protecting us are no longer interested in that. They have alternative places to run to. I only have Kudan as my final bus stop,” he said.
Former Commissioner for Information, Mr. Ben Bako and Ambassador Sule Buba, the Director General of Isa Ashiru Campaigned Organisation (HIACO), echoed the same view when they posited that Ashiru was the best candidate that the PDP in Kaduna could offer if the party desired a return to power.
“Everyone that is worth his salt as long PDP in Kaduna state is concern is in this camp,” said Bako, adding that, “anyone not with us, has missed his way.”
“All the past PDP Chairmen of the state are here and Ibrahim Yaro Suleiman and pa, Yaro Makama all former PDP chairmen of Kaduna state are here to testify.
“We have among us, two chairmen of other political parties that are in the opposition. Again, all the past Speakers of Kaduna House of Assembly, former commissioners, former Permanent Secretaries, former LGC Chairmen, are in this camp among others,” he said.
The team was in Kagarko, Sanga, Kaura, Zango Kataf LGAs. Elites, stakeholders and delegates to the September PDP gubernatorial primaries turned out in large numbers from their wards to assure Ashiru of their votes.
The tour continues today with Zone 2.