Veteran politician and former senator, Yakubu Danmarke has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the 2027 governorship election in Katsina State.
Mr Danmarke secured the ticket on Sunday at the party’s primary held at the PDP state secretariat in Katsina metropolis.
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Though he was adopted as the consensus aspirant following stakeholder consultations, he went through a formal affirmation vote by delegates.
The numbers
Announcing the result, Chairman of the PDP Gubernatorial Primary Election Committee and Returning Officer, Nuradeen Sani, said 77,085 delegates were accredited for the exercise. Of this number, 77,013 votes were cast in favour of Mr Danmarke, while 72 delegates were absent when voting began.
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“Having satisfied the requirements of our party’s constitution and scored the highest number of votes, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke is hereby declared the winner and the PDP gubernatorial candidate for Katsina State in the 2027 elections,” Barr. Sani announced.
A Familiar Contender
Mr Danmarke is no stranger to Katsina’s governorship race. A former local government chairman, member of the House of Representatives (2003–2007), and senator representing Katsina South (2007–2011), he has contested the state’s highest office multiple times across different platforms, including the PDP, the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).
His latest emergence positions the PDP to challenge the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in one of Nigeria’s politically strategic North-west states — the home of former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari.
Acceptance speech and pledges
In his acceptance speech, Mr Danmarke thanked party leaders, elders, and delegates for the confidence reposed in him. He pledged to run an inclusive administration focused on transparency and people-oriented policies if elected.
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“I am deeply honoured by this confidence and overwhelming support from our great party. I accept this responsibility with humility and a strong commitment to serve the people of Katsina State diligently,” he said.
He promised to unite the PDP across all levels and called on members to begin mobilisation for the 2027 polls. He identified insecurity, youth unemployment, and poverty as priority areas his administration would tackle.
The road to 2027
Mr Danmarke is expected to face a strong challenge from incumbent Governor Dr Dikko Umar Radda of the APC, who is seeking re-election. While other parties are yet to conclude their primaries, observers expect the contest to largely shape up as a contest between the ruling APC and a PDP aiming to regain power in the state it governed for 16 years before 2015.
Security concerns, governance performance, and economic challenges are likely to dominate campaign discourse in the coming months.
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