Our ballot will decide your fate- PDP Tells el-Rufai

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State has said the ElRufai led adminstration in the state is dislocating people of the state through its unpopular programmes.

The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Honourable Hassan Hyet disclosed this during a press conference in Kaduna yesterday.
“We call on the people of Kaduna State to use the stone of ballot to make a change and to restore the dignity of Kaduna State and protect democracy in Nigeria,” he advised.
Hyet who was irked by the suspension of two of its members in the Kaduna State House of Assembly said the government started with demolition of houses that made many homeless, and went ahead to do verification of workers were several people died.
“The government again went ahead to create crisis for the people living behind Command Secondary School in Kaduna South. They had to go to court to stop him,” he said.
The PDP Chairman lamented that the same government that should be protecting citizens did the contrary by sacking thousands of district and village heads.
“The government was not satisfied as it went ahead to sack, over night, district and village heads that are used to maintain peace and support government programmes, especially health related issues,” he added.
He also used the opportunity to condemn in strong terms the sacking of 5,000 workers by the APC government. “It seems the government takes pleasure in dislocation of Kaduna people,” he stressed.
Hyet said that though nobody is supporting collapse of education sector, the planned sacking of 22,000 teachers was uncalled for.
“The government would have taken advantage of the National Teachers Institute (NTI), which is in its domain, to train the affected teachers, instead of saying that over 22,000 teachers are on the way out; and the government justifies this by saying they are bringing in new teachers.
“The questions one should ask is what is the aim of government, if the same people the government should be taking care of are destroyed?
He said that the government derives power from the people and uses peoples resources, wondering why same should be haunted with power they handed out.
“I don’t want to forget the colossal loss of over 10 billion Naira said to have been used in feeding school children, which should have been channeled into training of same teachers being sacked,” he pointed out.
On the suspension of two PDP members from the Kaduna State House of Assembly, he said that there is no reason why their members should be suspended, saying: “Common sense shows that if someone is accused, he should be given a chance to defend himself.
“We learnt that the member that moved the motion for the suspension of our members at the Assembly moved a motion on the floor, the Speaker neither called for a counter motion, nor did he ask those at the plenary to comment.
“We are constrained to ask the Speaker if there are no rules guiding the proceedings; and if the Assembly can within five minutes pass suspension. Can the Speaker tell us if his behaviour was in public interest and promotion of democracy?” he queried.
He said that it was unfortunate that the Speaker of Kaduna House Assembly who should know better, endorsed an illegitimate action, capable of undermining democracy.
“We call for a reversal of the decision and an apology to the members affected. Anything short of it we will not accept. We will not let anybody scuttle democracy. Kaduna State is part of Nigeria and is bound by laws of the country,” he emphasized.
Hyet sympathised with Kaduna State citizens, but assured them that the party is peoples and masses friendly.
“We have done it before, we would do it again. Col Hamid Ali military administration sacked several workers; but when the PDP government under Makarfi came it restored them,” he said.
He said the party believes in democracy and would be patient till 2019 to change