Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has endorsed Senator Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election in the state.

CEOAFRICA source reliably gathered that the decision was reached after extensive discussion with some of the aspirants, where the governor made his choice known to them.

“We met for about three hours. Everyone consented to allow Mallam’s decision to prevail. He has chosen Uba as the flag bearer.

“We need to accept this as the will of Allah SWT and avoid unnecessary back talk. Let’s see how to manage our supporters amicably,” a message sent out by one of the aspirants, which was sighted by this newspaper, reads.

CEOAFRICA source also learnt that the governor asked a former Chief of Staff and two-time former Commissioner of Budget and Planning, Muhammed Sani Abdullahi, popularly known as Dattijo, to pick the form for Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

Dattijo, who was earlier touted as the anointed candidate of the governor, CEOAFRICA source gathered, was planning to pick the governorship form on Friday before he was dropped by the governor for Senator Sani.

One of the aides to the senator also confirmed his choice by the governor, noting that he started consultation almost two years ahead of other aspirants.

“We are happy that the governor has anointed him. He started ahead of these other aspirants. The APC is a big family and we expect everybody to work with him for the good of the party,” he said in a telephone interview last night.

El-Rufai had, while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, said his preference of a successor is in his core team.

“My preference is in our core team; that is the first 11. I said core team because these are the guys that have worked with me since 2014 to organise our party, our campaign, and we won and got elected,” El-Rufai said.

CEOFRICA source unveiled the members of El-Rufai’s core team to include Uba Sani. The 10 other members of the team are the deputy governor, Hadiza Balarabe, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Balarabe Abbas Lawal, three commissioners – Bashir Saidu (Finance), Muhammed Sani Abdullahi (Budget and Planning) and Samuel Aruwan (Internal Security).

Others are Senator Sule Kwari (Kaduna North), Jimi Lawal (Senior Adviser, Councillor), Hafiz Bayero (Administrator, Kaduna Municipal Authority), Muyiwa Adekeye (Special Adviser, Media) and Saude Atoyebi (Deputy Chief of Staff).