By Editor
Muhammad Sa’idu, a former commissioner for finance in Kaduna, says there is no bona fide politician left in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the state following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sa’idu, who also served as chief of staff to Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, spoke on Saturday at a ceremony in Zaria to welcome him and other defectors into the APC.
He said his group, Kaduna De-Initiatives, helped establish the ADC’s structure across the state but left after some individuals allegedly took control of the party.
“We built ADC with our strength, sweat and blood, but unfortunately, a few individuals who later joined the party hijacked it,” he said.
“We discovered that the party was being teleguided by a family, a situation which we found unacceptable.”
Sa’idu said the group compared the ADC candidates who won their primaries with their APC counterparts before deciding to return to the ruling party.
He said the group convened an emergency meeting of its steering committee and resolved to defect.
“So, we have returned home,” he said.
Sa’idu claimed that about 100,000 card-carrying ADC members had defected with his group by September, while more than 100,000 others had joined the APC between then and Saturday.
He said the defection also involved supporters outside the ADC, alongside Jafaru Sani, a former ADC governorship aspirant, and Suleiman Abdu Kwari, a former senator and commissioner for finance.
“There is not a single bona fide politician remaining in ADC,” Sa’idu said, adding that the state no longer had an opposition because “we were the opposition”.
He also predicted that the ADC would finish a distant third in 2027 when election results were announced.
Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna, described the defection as a positive development for the state and the country.
He praised Sa’idu as a principled and trustworthy politician, saying he had been confident the former commissioner would return to the APC.
Sani said the party offered equal opportunities to members, regardless of when they joined.
“The person who joins today, the one who joined yesterday and the one who will join tomorrow, we are all one,” he said.
The governor said the APC had increased its vote target in Kaduna from two million to three million ahead of the elections.
“Before now, we were promising to deliver two million votes, but we have now upgraded to three million votes, God willing,” he said.
Sani added that the party would embark on house-to-house campaigns across the state to secure victory at all levels of the elections.
He also urged residents to support President Bola Tinubu and the APC, citing federal projects and political appointments in the
