Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso of the northern Nigerian city of Kano has dismissed insinuations that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction loyal to him disrupted last Monday\u2019s meeting of the PDP Caretaker Committee led by Hassan Kefayos.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Pointblanknews.com, Kwankwaso who spoke through his media handler, Baba Dantiye said: \u201cit is possible that the organizers of that event did recruit hoodlums to disrupt it just to give Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso and Kano state government a bad name. No responsible government will organize a violent attack for whatsoever reason. Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso is a peace loving person and as the governor of Kano state, he has been promoting peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when he was not in government,\u00a0 His Excellency was never known as a violent man. It is on record that the Chairman of the said PDP Caretaker Committee Hassan Kefayos During the inauguration of the purported Caretaker Committee was quoted on tape and in the print media that he was ready for bloodshed and for any battle that comes his way and we are aware that he has the antecedents of carrying out such assignments. But in this case, Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso and the PDP in Kano remain calm and law abiding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com still recalls that violence and bloody confrontation reigned supreme at the Court Road secretariat of the PDP in the northern Nigerian city of Kano last Monday as members of the PDP and the New PDP clashed during the inauguration of Zonal Committees by the Hassan Kefayos-led Kano PDP Caretaker Committee.<\/p>\n
Political thugs suspected to be loyal to the New PDP stormed the party secretariat at about 1:30 P.M. hitting people with clubs, horns, knives and other dangerous weapons.<\/p>\n
Again on September 23, signals had emerged that the current crisis rocking the ruling PDP could snow-ball into bloody confrontation emerged as Elders Committee of the New PDP in Kano chided the Bamanga Tukur National Leadership for \u201craping democracy and militarizing the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also showed their anger over the decision of the party\u2019s National Working Committee (NWC) and Board of Trustees (BOT) leaderships to consent to automatic ticket for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Briefing Press Men after their meeting, Ambassador Kabiru Rabi\u2019u accused Bamanga Tukur and Chief Tony Anenih of raping democracy.<\/p>\n
In a Communiqu\u00e9 signed by Ambassador Kabiru and the Kano New PDP Elders\u2019 Committee Chairman, Alhaji Datti Wudiliwa, they said the Bamanga Tukur-led leadership, \u201cis unpopular and has been a disaster for the party as he (Bamanga) pursues the policy of personal loyalty. And that policy will split our great party and will divide the governor\u2019s ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe the elders of the party and the entire PDP family in Kano state, with one voice are saying \u201cNO\u201d to the breach of PDP constitution wherein mercenaries have been put in place to discipline our members. We believe in the Rule of Law and the political structure of Nigeria and that of PDP which are based on the Rule of Law. But we are saying \u201cNO\u201d to politics of divide-and-rule. Our loyalty and that of our Governor is to the New PDP.\u201d They also vowed to pursue and protect the interest of Kwankwaso with the last drop of their bloods.<\/p>\n
Strongly condemning Bamanga Tukur\u2019s leadership style, they said: \u201cWe have noted with grave concern the way and manner the party is being run by the National Working Committee under the leadership of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. Their actions in recent past are undemocratic, autocratic, selfish and military-like. The constitution of the party, sacred as it is supposed to be, was thrown to the dogs and actions were\/are taken on the whims and caprices of leadership and his principal.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also opposed automatic ticket for President Goodluck Jonathan and registered their disppaointment over a statement credited to Chief Anenih in that regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe statement credited to the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih that President Goodluck Jonathan and some Governors be given automatic ticket to contest in 2015 elections is not only undemocratic but a glaring case of contempt of court because there are existing court judgments in this case: Atiku Abubakar vs Peoples Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PDP policy of consensus arrangements and \u2018adoption\u2019 rather than transparent election to produce candidates for all elective offices including presidency is totally unacceptable to us. It may be recalled that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was repeatedly in court to challenge this undemocratic arrangement, and that the court ruled that the policy is alien to the PDP and Nigerian constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore often than not, actions are taken in a rush without due regards to the party constitution, as it is the case of Governor Wammako of Sokoto state who was suspended and that decision was vacated few days later. The suspension of Governor Amaechi is a clear case of rape of democracy. He was accused on a very trivial issue and was suspended from the party by Mamanga Tukur without giving him opportunity to defend himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kwankwaso loyalists also recalled that, \u201cthe election of the chairman of the Governors\u2019 Forum (NGF) of May 24, 2013 turned out to be such a rancorous affair that it ended up splitting the party right down the middle. Chief Rotimi Amaechi was elected under free and transparent\u00a0 election; but David Jonah Jang who the presiding officer said had lost the election is now claiming to be the chairman. He went ahead and opened a secretariat presumably with the support of the presidency.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring inauguration of his secretariat, 16 Governors were in attendance. This confirmed that in truth, Amaechi actually scored 19 votes. Never in the history of democracy has the minority rule the majority,\u201d they noted, adding that, \u201cmost Nigerians believe that the presidency engineered the crisis and is happy with it because it has a score to settle with Amaechi.\u201d<\/p>\n
They, however, declared total loyalty to Governor Kwankwaso, and\u00a0 pledged to, \u201csupport his position with regards to the Northern state Governors Forum, Nigeria Governors Forum. We are proud of our governor and all his achievements and what ever happened to him affects us all and the entire New PDP family in Kano state. We are ready to defend our able, dynamic and charismatic Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso even with the last drop of our
\nblood.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also disowned a Care-taker Committee in the state set up by the PDP National Headquarters, describing it as undemocratic, null and void.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the tenure of the state party executive expired, we wrote to the party headquarters requesting for fresh election. A date was fixed for the exercise but we waited for the Abuja delegation, but they didn\u2019t come. The next thing we heard was that a Care-taker Committee has been set up to over-see the affairs of the party in Kano state. This is totally unacceptable and we are challenging it in court,\u201d they explained<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governor Rabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso of the northern Nigerian city of Kano has dismissed insinuations that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction loyal to him disrupted last Monday\u2019s meeting of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n