By MANASSEH ISTIFANUS
As the PDP Leadership Congresses draw nearer, many aspirants have emerged to lead the party in Kaduna State and to be fair to all those who have already thrown their hats into the ring; they are all qualified to lead the party in the state, but beyond political avidity, the leadership of a political party that is in opposition requires more than just ambition and rhetoric.
If at all the desire of any opposition party is to take over power from the incumbent, then there is the strong need to have a leader who is versatile in terms of experience, maturity and temperament. The person must be knowledgeable in the workings of a political party, the person must also command uncommon respect amongst party leaders, stakeholders and party members.
Taking over power from an incumbent party is not a ‘tea party’ or child’s play. There are many political crinkum-crankums that are far beyond just manning a seat such as the State Party Chairman. Kaduna State PDP at this point needs a Chairman that has been in the saddle of political activities for many years and has equally acquired sufficient experience in electioneering campaigns, planning and execution. A man who has played critical roles where elections have been won and lost as the case may be and the experiences that stick with such a person in each passing elections.
Hon. Edward Masha stands out among all the aspirants vying for the chairmanship position of the party in the state. Over the years he has shown and exhibited uncommon loyalty and commitment to the party. He commands a lot of respect from the most senior stakeholders to the ordinary members of the party in the state.
Hon. Masha, a one time Commissioner, Special Adviser to the Hon. Minister of Finance, is also the current Chairman PDP Stakeholders, Jema’a Local Government Area. His political friendship cuts across the 3 Senatorial Districts of the State. His leadership prowess and his ability to unite party members especially during electioneering campaigns and elections execution, is second to none. He exhibited that in the last 2023 general elections and the results are there to show.
There are young forces that are pushing for Youth Agenda in this contest and it’s indeed a welcomed development. I’m also a young person and I should ordinarily champion that course as it is, but politics is far beyond sentiments. We are in opposition and our major aim is to take over power by 2027, but we cannot do that by mere display of emotions. We need to look inward and understand the enormity of the battle ahead of us. In 2027, we are not going to deal with political pushovers, we are going to deal with sophisticated politicians who are in government will all sort of influences. As the saying goes, “desperate times requires desperate measures.”
Having worked in different capacities both within and outside the state, Hon. Edward Masha is one man who understands the complexities of party politics in Kaduna State and can easily galvanize party men and women to victory. With his experience, he will bring about cohesion within the party ranks. His contemporaries will listen to him with respect whenever he speaks. His younger ones will equally listen to him with respect whenever he speaks.
This no doubt makes him the desired connecting bridge builder the party needs for interface between the youth, young and the old political class and even has the capacity to reach out to convince and bring back some top echelons who have left the party to improve the fortunes of party ahead of 2027. More so, Hon. Masha is also highly connected; as such, he is someone who can easily go round and put together resources to execute party activities without dependence on a few who will want to dictate the running of party affairs. This is very key to the survival of any political movement.
If we are serious about taking over power in 2027, the journey at this point is not that of sentiments, emotions or ego but of facts and the realities before us.
We should all consider giving Hon. Edward Masha a chance to bear this torch of PDP in Kaduna State. We are hoping for the best and by God’s grace, we are going have the best kind of leadership we desire from him.
God bless PDP Kaduna State, God bless Nigeria.
Manasseh lstifanus is a Political Scientist and former SA to Governor of Kaduna State.
He can be reached on: manastigora@gmail.com
Managing Editor
angobally505@gmail.com