Kano ruling party divided over sack of state chairman

Faction urges Oyegun to reverse decision

The last is yet to be heard of the crisis rocking the Kano state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as loyalists of the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso protested the appointment of Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas as the state chairman of the party.

The arrival of Abbas who is loyal to the governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, signals the dismissal of the embattled state chairman, Umar Haruna Doguwa, a supporter of Kwakwanso.

Already, this has pitched them against the governor and his followers, heightening the tension over the battle to control APC in the state. In a protest letter to the national chairman of the party, chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the APC national treasurer,  Alhaji Bala Muhammed Gwagwarwa and Doguwa, on behalf of the Kwakwanso group, rejected the decision by the North West vice chairman of the party,  Alhaji Abdulkadir Inuwa to appoint Abbas.

They denounced the decision on the grounds that it contravened the provisions of sections 21 (b) and (c) of the APC constitution.Accordingly, they enjoined the Oyegun-led national working committee (NWC) of the party to reverse the appointment of Abbas in the interest peace and unity of the party.

In particular, they claimed that Inuwa in breach of section 21 B (1) of the party constitution unilaterally constituted the Senator Mohammed Magoro-led fact-finding committee without the support of the North West zonal executive committee.

Maintaining that they wrote several letters of appeal to the NWC, including that in which they called for a reversal of the decision of the fact finding committee, they remarked that it was unfortunate that Abdulkadir still went ahead to issue appointment letter to Abbas in contravention of the party constitution.

“While our appeal is still pending in your office, another absurdity was perpetrated by Inuwa Abdulkadir by writing a letter of appointment to a purported new chairman for the Kano chapter of the APC.  It is in this regard that we are once again compelled to write this letter to you and appeal for justice to be done in this matter in line with the stipulated provisions of the APC constitution,” they stated.

But when contacted, Abbas faulted the position of the aggrieved group saying it smacks of ignorance of the provisions of the party’s constitution.His words: “I am not in the position to speak on the matter. All I can say for now is that they are ignorant of the stipulation of our party’s constitution which says all states matter should be addressed by the zone which the zone rightly did by setting up a committee headed by General Magoro that submitted its report in Dutse where five serving governors, two deputy governors, serving National Assembly members and other stakeholders were in attendance and ratified the appointment of my executive committee. Like I said I am not in the position to speak on it and I am not defending anybody but you should contact the zonal office.”

It would be recalled that last December, while submitting his committee report to the APC NWC, Magoro justified the sack of Doguwa, insisting that the executive of the state chapter of the party followed due process on the decision.