By: Southern Kaduna is Awake
With Respect to Elder Danbaki: Sunday Marshall and Southern Kaduna’s Shift to APC Is a Statement of Gratitude, Not Surrender.
The Premise of False Heroism
It has become fashionable for political commentators to mistake noise for courage and isolation for integrity. Elder Yusuf Solomon Danbaki’s recent article, “Katung’s Defection: A Complete Surrender of Southern Kaduna’s Political Soul,” is a loud example of this confusion. It dresses up stagnation as strategy and condemns the first real political bridge-building effort in Southern Kaduna as betrayal.
But let us speak plainly: Senator Sunday Marshall Katung’s move to the APC is not surrender — it is survival with purpose. It is the bold repositioning of Southern Kaduna from opposition darkness into a table where national decisions are made.
Opposition Without Access Is Political Poverty
For over two decades, Southern Kaduna sat comfortably in opposition and comfortably in neglect. We shouted. We protested. We issued press statements. Yet, the roads remained bad, the hospitals understaffed, our youths unemployed, and our voice in governance reduced to ritual complaints after every election.
If that is the “strategic opposition” Danbaki celebrates, then let us be honest — it has failed. Opposition without negotiation power is not strategy; it is self-imposed irrelevance.
By joining the ruling party, Senator Katung has chosen influence over isolation, partnership over perpetual protest. He understands that the era of shouting from the fence is over; the era of strategic inclusion has begun.
A People of Gratitude, Not Bitterness
Southern Kaduna’s political realignment is not betrayal — it is gratitude.
In 2023, we did not vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yet, despite that, the President gave our son, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, the highest military appointment in Nigeria — the Chief of Defence Staff. That is not a small gesture. It is a mark of trust and inclusion.
Under this same administration, we have received the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia; the Federal Medical Centre; and the Nigerian Army Brigade Command in Samaru Kataf. Major federal roads in our zone have been earmarked for construction and rehabilitation.
Let us ask Elder Danbaki one honest question:
Did we negotiate with the President before receiving these life-changing, generational projects?
No. They came purely from goodwill.
So, if after all these, Southern Kaduna still refuses to align politically, what does that say about us? That we are ungrateful people.
True leadership recognizes when destiny knocks — and Senator Katung has simply opened the door.
Reality Check: PDP Has No Future
Another question to Elder Danbaki: Do you honestly want Senator Katung to remain in a party with no structure, no stability, and no hope of resurrection?
The PDP today is not a party — it is a shadow of itself. Internal crises, leadership vacuum, and endless court cases have crippled its relevance. Just recently, the court ruled that INEC should not recognize the proposed PDP National Convention.
So, what exactly do you want Sunday Marshall to do?
Remain in confusion? Waste time and resources contesting under a party that will lose at the courts even if it wins at the polls?
Political wisdom demands that you move when the road ahead of your vehicle collapses. That is not cowardice — it is foresight.
The False History of Monopoly
Danbaki warns of “political monopoly.” Yet, for over twenty years, Southern Kaduna was trapped under the PDP’s internal monopoly — a handful of godfathers distributing tickets in Abuja while the people got nothing but slogans.
Today, the same class that benefitted from that monopoly suddenly fears losing relevance in a broader political alliance. Their problem is not with Katung’s decision — their problem is that they can no longer control him.
True democracy means freedom of choice, and the people of Southern Kaduna have every right to realign with a government that holds the key to national development, not one that only offers nostalgia and blame.
From Symbolic Opposition to Practical Partnership
Katung’s defection must be understood in context: Nigeria’s democracy rewards coalition, not confrontation. No region has advanced by isolating itself.
The Southwest gained the presidency by aligning, not opposing.
The Southeast is now seeking inclusion because isolation failed.
The Middle Belt, for too long, has allowed emotion to dictate politics instead of strategic negotiation.
What Katung has done is to bring Southern Kaduna from the periphery to the centre. He has created access — to resources, projects, and policy influence. Opposition cannot build roads or hospitals; inclusion can.
Defection Is Not Betrayal — It Is Recalibration
History is full of leaders who realigned politically to reposition their people. Chief Obafemi Awolowo did. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe did. Even Governor Ortom, whom Danbaki cites as an example, defected twice.
Defection is not a sin — it is only a crime when it lacks purpose. Senator Katung’s defection carries purpose: to negotiate development from within, to bridge the North-South Kaduna divide, and to end the era where Southern Kaduna was seen only as a protest constituency.
A New Deal, Not a New Master
Let it be clear: joining the APC does not mean submission to any governor. It means negotiating Southern Kaduna’s interests within the structure of power, not outside it.
For the first time, Southern Kaduna has a senator and a bloc of leaders with direct access to the centre of decision-making. That is not surrender. That is strategy.
Final Word: Leadership Beyond Sentiment
Senator Sunday Marshall Katung has not sold Southern Kaduna; he has bought it a seat at the national table. Those calling him a traitor are merely mourning the end of their political monopoly.
History will not remember who spoke the loudest in opposition; it will remember who delivered real change.
Southern Kaduna’s future will not be built on protest placards — it will be built through pragmatic politics, alliances that work, and leaders who understand timing, strategy, and the art of negotiation.
Senator Katung has shown that courage.
And that courage is the beginning of a new chapter — not of surrender, but of strategic inclusion born out of gratitude and vision.
