Why I join APC – Tinubu has done what no president has for my people, says Katung

The senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, Sunday Katung has said that his recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress  (APC) was informed by the “unprecedented federal attention to Southern Kaduna.”
Speaking with journalists at the weekend, Katung said that even if he had remained in the PDP, he would have still worked for President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, no president has done so much for the Southern Kaduna people like Tinubu.
“Even if I stayed in PDP, I would have still worked 100 per cent for President Tinubu. No president, living or dead, has done for my people what he has done,” Katung said.
According to him, Tinubu’s interventions, including the establishment of a Federal University and a  Federal Medical Centre, convinced him that full alignment with the president was the right step.
He described the projects as investments that will “outlive everyone.”
He added that consultations with stakeholders at home showed overwhelming support for his move. He maintaine,“Remaining in PDP while working for Tinubu would have amounted to antipathy. My people said when someone does this much for you, you do not stand aside.”
Katung also highlighted his renewed push for the sickle cell bill, which he described as a lifelong personal mission.
He recalled meeting a child during a sickle cell crisis in 1991, who pleaded with his parents to “allow him to die so they could rest,” a memory he said continues to drive his advocacy.
Katung said his first attempt to sponsor the bill in 2016 stalled but insisted it must now be concluded because “too many people have died needlessly.”
He also recalled the painful case of the late Kaduna Military Administrator, Gen. Mukhtar, whose children died one after the other from sickle cell complications.
Katung said a public hearing on the bill will hold on Monday before the National Assembly transmits it to the President for assent.
He said the bill proposes treatment centres in every local government area, centres of excellence across the six geo-political zones and incentives for local production of critical medication currently imported from London.
The Senator praised religious organisations for promoting premarital genotype screening but said mandatory testing should be based on stakeholder consensus to avoid sensitivities.
He disclosed that his Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) supports about 55 sickle cell patients under a public health specialist.
On constituency challenges, he lamented the neglect of Kauru and Sanga Local Government Areas, where roads remain dilapidated and impassable.
Katung noted that a journey of 15 minutes stretches to four hours as a result of the terrible conditions of the roads.
He further recalled how some students died last year while attempting to cross a river on their way to school.
Katung said his priorities are roads, healthcare, and electrification.
He stressed that genuine community engagement and bottom-up planning remain essential to addressing insecurity and youth restiveness in the region.