Senator representing Kaduna South, Sunday Marshal Katung, has declared that his loyalty to President Bola Tinubu transcends get together affiliation, saying he would have brazenly labored for the President’s re-election even when he had remained within the PDP.
Katung stated Tinubu’s institution of a federal college, a university of drugs and a federal medical centre in his zone made his help for the president an ethical duty.
Katung, who just lately defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), stated gratitude, not political calculation drove his choice, noting that Tinubu’s interventions in Southern Kaduna inside 18 months surpassed something earlier administrations had accomplished.
In response to the Senator “Even when I stayed in PDP, I might have nonetheless labored 100 per cent for President Tinubu. No President, residing or lifeless, has accomplished for my individuals what he has accomplished.”
Talking in an interview with choose journalists, the senator who has funded sickle cell remedy for dozens of constituents with out publicity, stated the extent of neglect in Kauru and Sanga Native Authorities Areas calls for pressing nationwide consideration.
In response to him, whereas many commend his discreet help for sickle cell sufferers, his broader imaginative and prescient for the district is centred on “a complete infrastructural revival” and community-driven growth.
The senator recalled that in the course of the political negotiations that preceded his latest defection, get together stakeholders highlighted varied achievements to him. However he instructed them his priorities weren’t private.
He additional disclosed that, after consulting broadly with stakeholders again dwelling, the consensus was that supporting Tinubu totally was the best and honourable factor to do.
“Remaining in PDP whereas working for him would have amounted to antipathy. My individuals stated when somebody does this a lot for you, you don’t stand apart,” he stated.
“I instructed them I had 9 main points affecting my constituents. These individuals have been uncared for for years. From what I do know, they’re among the many most uncared for communities on this nation,” he stated.
He narrated how complete communities in Kauru at the moment are inaccessible, with residents unable to achieve neighbouring villages or transport farm produce to markets.
“It pains me that in a rustic the place we declare to spend a lot on infrastructure, there are nonetheless locations completely minimize off from civilisation,” he lamented.
He gave a placing instance of his most well-liked route—Jere, Kuru Minjibu, Kwoi, Kafanchan as much as Kanahuli—describing it as a stretch that urgently requires federal intervention.
The highway is his nominated “one vital venture” within the 2024 federal price range.
In Sanga, he stated, the scenario isn’t any higher. “A 15-minute journey takes three to 4 hours. Some communities can not even entry others throughout the similar native authorities.”
He recounted the tragic incident of scholars who drowned in Kauru final 12 months. Visiting the group, he stated he personally crossed the river to see the terrain.
“I turned emotional. These are Nigerian residents—and that is what they undergo each day,” he stated.
Past roads, he stated many communities stay in full darkness. In a single specific village, his Particular Assistant on Tasks needed to paddle a canoe to hold out an evaluation. Villagers instructed the aide he was the primary authorities consultant they’d ever seen—even
Past politics, Katung stated one in every of his strongest motivations within the Senate is his revived sickle cell invoice, which he described as a deeply private mission relationship again greater than three many years.
He recounted a 1991 encounter with a baby battling sickle cell disaster who pleaded along with his dad and mom to “permit him to die so they may relaxation,” a second he stated has haunted and pushed him ever since.
Katung first tried to sponsor the invoice in 2016 whereas within the Home of Representatives, but it surely stalled. Now, he insists, the laws should be accomplished as a result of “too many individuals have died needlessly.”
He additionally recalled the case of the late Kaduna Army Administrator, Normal Mukhtar, whose kids died one after the opposite from sickle cell crises—an expertise he described as painfully unforgettable.
The senator disclosed {that a} public listening to on the invoice is scheduled for Monday, after which the Nationwide Meeting will conclude work and ahead it to the President for assent.
The invoice proposes remedy centres in each native authorities space, centres of excellence throughout the six geopolitical zones and insurance policies to spice up native manufacturing of vital sickle cell remedy at present sourced from London.
Katung praised spiritual establishments for insisting on premarital genotype screening however stated obligatory testing ought to emerge from stakeholder submissions to keep away from pointless sensitivities.
He revealed that his NGO at present helps about 55 sickle cell sufferers underneath the care of a public-health doctor, including that he does it as a private sacrifice, not for publicity.
The senator emphasised that his priorities embrace roads, healthcare amenities and electrification, stressing that bottom-up planning and real group engagement are key to curbing insecurity and youth restiveness within the area.
