KANO APC CRISIS: Buhari has no hand in your quarrels, Presidency tells Kwankwaso’s group

As crisis rocking Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to have heightened with the recent sack of the state party chairman, the Presidency has denied President Muhammadu Buhari’s involvement in the saga.

The Presidency has therefore asked Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s group to stop accusing Buhari of being behind the crisis, insisting that such interference was against the principle Buhari stands for and maintains.

Senator Kwankwaso’s political support group, known as Concerned Members of APC in Kano State, was said to have at a recent press briefing, alleged that President Buhari was the brain behind the sacking of the state chairman of APC.

But reacting in a statement in Abuja, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said, “Let me assure all our Party members and the general public alike that at no time did the President involve himself in the internal conflict of any APC chapter in the country, and would never do so.

“President Buhari would not risk his integrity to support one side against the other in the affairs of the APC or any other political party anywhere in the country.

“Anybody who knows the President’s principles would not believe any allegations linking Buhari to interference in the election or removal of party leaders across the country.

“In fact, it is an irony that President Buhari, who was accused in the past of not taking control of the National Assembly by imposing the president of the Senate and Speaker, two critical institutions in the running of our democracy will now be accused of abandoning those principles to order the removal of the chairman of the Kano APC party chapter.”

‘’I am 100 per cent convinced that this group, which is being associated with the respected senator representing Kano, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, did not seek his permission or clear their script with him before they dragged the name of the President into this matter. Governor Kwankwaso knows President Buhari too well to reduce him to this level.

“This group is, hereby, advised to stop belittling the person and office of the President by dragging his name into their local party quarrels. It is unfair to attack President Buhari over an issue he knew nothing about.”

Meanwhile, a brother to Senator Kwankwaso and Kano State Commissioner for Rural and Community Development, Musa Kwankwaso, has decried the senator’s proposed visit to Kano, alleging that it is a plot to spite President Muhammadu Buhari and for Kwankwaso to test his popularity.

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Musa Kwankwaso said in a statement at the weekend, “Kwankwaso (senator) shunned Buhari’s visit because he wants to test his popularity against that of Buhari during his visit. Out of the three Kano senators, only Kwankwaso deliberately shunned Buhari’s visit.

​”​Senator Barau Jibrin of Kano North and his colleague of Kano South, Kabiru Gaya, did not only attend the gathering but played specific roles to ensure the successful hosting of the President.

“But we want to remind him of how Buhari defeated him in the All Progressives Congress (presidential) primary in Lagos. Even Kano delegates who were in his camp then voted for Buhari. Nothing has changed since then.”

Senator Kwankwaso, who is a former governor of the state, last visited Kano in May 2015. There have been speculations he may be dumping the APC for his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

 

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