PDP loses steam over mass defection in Katsina

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is at the verge of losing steam over mass defection in Katsina State. In the wave of defections, Senator Yakubu Lado, 2023 PDP governorship candidate in Katsina, and member of newly inaugurated PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), is seemingly in the theater of the political misfortune of the party in the state.

National Daily gathered that Lado had been in power tussle with former governor of the state, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, over the control of the state PDP. The skirmishes culminated in the emergence of two dominant factions in the state, one led by Shema and the other led by Lado.

Shema had insisted on being the PDP leader in Katsina, having been governor from 2007 to 2015 on the platform of the PDP.  Lado said to have imposed his influence as the governorship candidate of the party, and accordingly, nominated Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, a former Secretary to the State Government, as ‘Jagora’, PDP leader, in the build up to the 2023 general elections.

Shema and his loyalists were said to have elongated dispute with Inuwa, which culminated into court suit, and, therefore, were be strongly opposed to Inuwa leading the PDP.

Expressing discontentment over Lado’s nomination of Inuwa to lead the PDP in the state, Shema and his loyalists defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Besides Shema, his loyalists which decamped to the APC include the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bashir Tanimu Gambo; the Executive Director of Katsina Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Ibrahim Lawal Dankaba; others include Hamisu Gambo, Danlawan Katsina, Special Adviser to Governor Dikko Umaru Radda on Local Government Inspectorate, Alhaji Lawal Ahmed Rufa’i Safana; and the former PDP Treasurer, North-west Zone, a former PDP deputy governorship candidate in 2015, Rabiu Gambo Bakori.

There is a turning point in the state. Mustapha Inuwa, the Director-General of Atiku/Lado 2023 Campaign, has risen against Lado, forming new alliance against the PDP 2023 governorship candidate.

Inuwa was cited to have stated in a media interaction, “I regretted supporting Yakubu Lado as governorship candidate because he is not even qualified to be a counsellor. I swear, he is not qualified. Even if he is elected governor, we have not done justice for the Katsina people.”

It was gathered Inuwa, in collaboration with his loyalists,  is negotiating with the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katsina State to form an alliance  towards 2027.

Those working with Inuwa were identified to include a former PDP National Secretary, Senator Umar Ibrahim Tsauri; former senator representing Daura Zone, Ahmed Babba Kaita; 2023 governorship running mate of Lado, Ahmed Aminu Yar’Adua; Sirajo Aminu Makera, Jamilu Mohammed Lion, Salisu Uli and Ahmed Musa Yar’Adua.

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Inuwa has, accordingly, resigned as PDP leader in Katsina State.

Also, a stout supporter of Lado, Lawal Audu, has aligned with thousands of PDP supporters to their political godfather to defect to the APC.

Audu, from the country home of Senator Yakubu Lado, was elected in 2023 to represent Kankara in the Katsina State House of Assembly on the platform of the PDP.

The 2019 deputy governorship candidate of the PDP, running mate to Lado, Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, also defected from the PDP to the APC on 8th May, 2025.

Yusuf Majigiri, elected on the platform of PDP in 2023, representing Mashi/Dutsi Federal Constituency of Katsina State in the National Assembly, with two other lawmakers – Balarabe Dabai, representing Bakori/Danja Federal Constituency, and Iliyasu Abubakar, representing Batsari, Safana and Danmusa Federal Constituency, decamped to the APC with PDP mandate.

The lawmakers in their separate letters read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, cited “division and crisis within the PDP” both at the state and national levels as reasons for their decision to join the APC.

Meanwhile, National Daily gathered Lado has firm control of the state PDP Chairman, Nura Amadi Kurfi; party chairmen in all local government and wards, beside others stakeholders.

Lado was said to have been holding wide consultations and close-door meetings with his loyalists across the state to forestall further defections from the PDP.