*urges millions of supporters to remain calm
*says candidate would win convincingly, occupy Kashim Ibrahim House
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Following a sudden removal of the of Action Democratic Party (ADP) Kaduna Guber candidate, Honourable Sani Mahmood Shaaban from the list of participants of a debate organised by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service, his campaign team has described the act as suspicious, conceived by those jittery of his soaring popularity among millions of electorate.
This was expressed at a press conference held at Sha’aban’s campaign office on Wednesday January 18, 2023.
Speaking, Director General of the Campaign, Honourable Ben Kure said that they called for the briefing to clear the air to address the controversies surrounding the invitation and later disinvitation extended to their candidate for the BBC Hausa Service Debate for Kaduna gubernatorial candidates.
“We are doing this on behalf of our Action Democratic Party (ADP) Kaduna Gubernatorial candidate, Honourable Sani Mahmood Shaaban. We received an invite on January 15 inviting us for the BBC Hausa Service debate.
“I later received a letter on January 17, yesterday, informing me that the invitation to our candidate for the debate that is holding now, has been withdrawn.
“We were surprised by the content of the letter, which said the ADP candidate for 2023 Kaduna gubernatorial election is Jibrin Yusuf, who was our dummy candidate.
“We were surprised that BBC is telling us INEC said Honourable Shaaban is not our candidate,” he said.
According to him, “INEC has a way of uploading candidates name, it is an ongoing process and we believe it would be done,” he said.
According to him, their candidate is well respected and accepted by the electorate, hence, they are unperturbed by BBC’s action, but had to clarify because of their millions of supporters.
“Our candidate has political sagacity to reach public in the state and by the grace of God, our candidate will win the election coming soon.
“We want to appeal our supporters that we are still in the race and would be in Kashim Ibrahim House by 11am when he is sworn in on May 29,” he said.
Kure assured that very soon the Sani Shaaban campaign will kick off in full force.
“We would roll out our campaign plans soon. Shaaban is the one everyone is waiting for in Kaduna political space.
“We have several media locally and internationally that our candidate can speak to the public,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman ADP Kaduna State, Honourable Umar Musa alleged that BBC Hausa took the action due to pressure from candidates who are jittery of the popularity of Shaaban.
“Some candidates are jittery of his participation. They are trying to use BBC to discredit him and reduce his popularity.
“Millions of our supporters initially were not interested in the debate but were willing to follow it after they knew Shaaban was invited.
“They were subsequently disappointed that his name was removed from the debate,” he said.
Also present at the briefing was the State Secretary ADP, Honourable John Yayock.
