KANO APC CRISIS: solution not in sight, as Buhari, governors intervene

• Na’Abba blames absence of internal democracy
The crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Kano State, lingers as party heavyweights resolve to wade in for fear of contagious spill to other states, especially among those in neighbouring Northwest.

The crisis of recent weeks, is the result of a face-off between the state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the former governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, now Senator representing Kano Central, and is the manifestation of a rivalry that was mute.

Many believe that Kwankwaso was testing Ganduje’s grip over the party and the elected officers of the state, from members of the National Assembly, State House of Assembly, local government chairmen, party leaders from the state down to ward level and others.

According to a source close to both Kwankwaso and Ganduje, the fight would be damaging, as well as devastating to all parties, in the area of governance, delivery and party politics. Some suggest that Kwankwaso was quick to realise what was coming, which could bring to ruins all he labored to build in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), up till the time he decamped to the APC.

Others blame Ganduje for the crisis, stressing that he was too loyal to his former boss, Kwankwaso, insisting that he (Ganduje) should as a matter of urgency exercise a strong hold on the party in the state. The battle of influence reached crescendo, when the APC State Secretary, Abbas Sani Abbas, held a media briefing after an emergency and a special meeting with all the State Exco members of APC, together with all the 44 council chairmen and their secretaries, informing that they had suspended the state chairman of the party, Umar Haruna Doguwa and the state organising secretary, Sunusi Surajo Kwankwaso.

In attendance during the meeting were some members of the National Assembly, including majority members in the State House of Assembly among others. At that emergency meeting, Abdullahi Abbas Sanusi, who is the governor’s political advisor, was chosen to be the new caretaker chairman and Ahmed Muhammad, the assistant state organising secretary, as the acting organising secretary. The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, who for a long time had parted ways with Kwankwaso, disclosed that all the problem facing the party in the state, was nothing more than absence of internal democracy, right from the time of electing the party exco members, which took place during Kwankwaso’s administration.

Na’Abba said; “You will see that all the parties have manifestoes, but they are not being followed. For example, during the Second Republic, if you look at the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), part of its manifesto was rural development, which was followed and implemented. Today, most of our people do not even know whether their parties have manifesto or not,” he lamented.

It is clear that many party members have taken sides with Governor Ganduje. That could be due to Kwankwaso’s highhanded style of leadership.

For a Senior Special Assistant, Information, to Ganduje, Fa’iz Alfindiki, resolving the crisis is paramount, but he noted that that is not Kwankwaso’s priority.

He said, “all along it is only the Ganduje who has been making statements about the need to resolve the crisis. Kwankwaso should or must understand that the incumbent governor is the leader of the party in the state. There is no way Kwankwaso, being a Senator can be above the governor in the arrangement of the party. ”

According to him, Kwankwaso should stop deceiving himself by as the leader of APC in the North West, adding that if that is what Kwankwaso feels, it simply means he is also seeing himself as above President Muhammadu Buhari, who also comes from the zone.”

Alfindiki insisted that resolving the face-off could only be possible when the former governor realises that his time as leader of APC in Kano is up.

The national secretariat of the party decided to wade in for a resolution of the crisis. Reports disclosed that the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has described the situation as unfortunate, unnecessary and a distraction, which must be solved. Lamenting the situation, he noted that the party must not allow the crisis to blossom.

“We must nip it in the bud because it is capable of causing problem in a state. So, it is in our interest at the national secretariat to ensure that these differences between two of our very prominent leaders in Kano must not go any further and does not become yet another issue that will be feeding the press. None of us must do anything that is likely to make the situation worse, ” he warned.

Not only Oyegun, the governors that come from the North West zone sat with governor Ganduje and Kwankwaso to broker peace. A source close to the governors revealed that made the move move with the knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari, who comes from North West zone. The governors are those of Zamfara, Abdul’Aziz Yari, Malam Nasiru El-Rufa’I of Kaduna, Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Badaru Abubakar Talamiz of Jigawa State. The meeting held at Kwankwaso’s private residence in Abuja.

What remains unclear is how far this reconciliation can go, looking at the insistence of the new interim chairman of APC Kano, Abdullahi Abbas, that he remains the acting chairman of the party in the state. While on the other hand, the committee that was set up by the party Exco members and other stakeholders during that emergency meeting, to make investigations on the immediate and remote causes of the face-off, was still working towards that direction with all the terms of reference intact.

A day after the so-called reconciliation meeting between Ganduje and Kwankwaso, all party officials from the state, including those at the local government levels and other critical stakeholders, rushed to the national secretariat of the party, insisting on their stand to suspend Doguwa.

Only time will tell how fast the Kano APC will respond to the peace moves.