Kano APC Crisis: What Shekarau told Tinubu
PPLITICS DIGEST – A former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, on Tuesday, confirmed that the meeting on Sunday of members of his faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano with a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tunibu, was on the lingering party crisis in Kano.
Mr Shekarau told BBC Hausa that Mr Tinubu, who is the national leader of the party, invited him for the meeting in Lagos after he was briefed on the party crisis in Kano by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Mr Ganduje’s loyalists constitute the other faction of the APC in Kano and controlled the leadership until the federal high court in Abuja last week voided the congresses that produced the party leaders.
Following the meeting with Mr Tinubu, Mr Shekarau said the crisis in the APC in the state has nothing to do with Mr Ganduje but rather the state’s leadership of the party.
Mr Shekarau said “I told Mr Tinubu that the crisis in Kano APC was not between myself and Ganduje, it is a disagreement of the party leadership in the state; we were sidelined in the affairs of the party in the state.
“Tinubu told me that Governor Ganduje initially briefed him about the crisis, so as a leader, he deemed it necessary to invite me to hear from me and he sent for me and we met on Sunday in Lagos,” Mr Shekarau said to BBC Hausa.
Mr Shekarau said the meeting with Mr Tinubu was strictly on the Kano party crisis. He said such a meeting with the party leader was usual as they had always met to discuss issues at stake in the APC.
The former Kano governor said all the contending groups in Kano have briefed Mr Tinubu about the party crisis in the state
“He is a party leader; he will eventually render his advice on the next line of action for the success of the party,” Mr Shekarau said.
The two Kano APC factions had conducted parallel state congresses on October 18 and produced two sets of leaders.
The Shekarau faction, which had two senators and four members of the House of Representatives, elected Haruna Danzago as chairman while Mr Ganduje’s camp elected Abdullahi Abbas.
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The National Appeal Committee of the party later recognised Mr Abbas as the chairman of the party in the state, indicating its siding with the faction loyal to the governor.
Not satisfied with the decision of the party, the faction led by Mr Shekarau, headed to court, asking for the nullification of the congresses at the ward, local government and state levels conducted by the rival faction and recognition of its own.
Subsequently, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted the requests and upheld the congresses conducted by the Shekarau faction.
“He is a party leader; he will eventually render his advice on the next line of action for the success of the party,” Mr Shekarau said.
The two Kano APC factions had conducted parallel state congresses on October 18 and produced two sets of leaders.
The National Appeal Committee of the party later recognised Mr Abbas as the chairman of the party in the state, indicating its siding with the faction loyal to the governor.
Following the court judgment, arsonists last week attacked the campaign office of Barau Jibrin, one of the senators in the Shekarau camp.
The building also housed the new head office of the Shekarau group and was scheduled for commissioning on Thursday last week before the arsonists destroyed it.
Following the attack, the group wrote a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman, accusing the rival faction of the arson.
The petition, dated December 2, was co-signed by Mr Shekarau, who is also the senator representing Kano Central, Mr Jibrin, who is the senator for Kano South, and four members of the House of Representatives including; Nasiru Abdua, Tijjani Jobe, Sha’aban Sharada and Haruna Dederi.
The petitioners fingered the chairperson of the rival faction, Mr Abbas, the state’s commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Murtala Garo; Faizu Alfindiki, chairperson Kano Municipal local government area; Khalid Diso, Chairperson Gwale LGA; Hassan Garban-Kauye, chairperson Kumbotso LGA; Auwal Shuaibu, Chairperson Nassarawa LGA and one Gwarmai as ”the sponsors of the arsonists.”
However, the spokesperson for the group, Ahmad Aruwa, denied the allegations.
