‘Dotun Akintomide With Agency Report
A factional secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state has been purportedly demolished by Gov. Nasir El-Rufai in the early hours of Tuesday.
The Secretariat was reported by Channels TV to be located at number 11B Sambo in the state capital.
The building belongs to the faction loyal to the suspended senators representing Kaduna Central, Sen. Shehu Sani and that of Kaduna North zone, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi.
Irked by the inability of the group to reconcile with the State party organ, The New Diplomat learnt the secretariat was opened last week as a parallel State office of the APC.
The property, a one storey duplex, was said to belong to Senator Hunkuyi before it was converted to a State Party Secretariat last week.
Hunkuyi’s reactions on Twitter:
In the early hours of today, the @GovKaduna Mallam @elrufai personally drove a bulldozer accompanied by armored tanks to destroy my house at 11B Sambo Road. This is a new low and fighting dirty with such low level of pettiness is indeed unprecedented in Kaduna State. pic.twitter.com/l7iR5QRINB
— Senator Hunkuyi (@HunkuyiSuleiman) February 20, 2018
It is on record that few months back, @GovKaduna Mallam @elrufai marked another property of mine in Hunkuyi town for demolition but residents of the area prevented the officials from demolishing it. Today, he came well prepared with military men to destroy my house at Sambo Road. pic.twitter.com/fHYo2EdZjx
— Senator Hunkuyi (@HunkuyiSuleiman) February 20, 2018
On Sunday, the group held a meeting at the Secretariat, where they claimed to be the recognized state chapter by the APC national leadership
Hunkuyi, (APC/Kaduna North) had on Thursday declared that Governor Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna has not been fair to Kaduna State, and vowed to “do everything possible” to vote him out in 2019.
“The battle line has been drawn; we must vote out El-Rufa’i in 2019 general elections,” the senator said in Kaduna, at a ceremony to formally unveil a forum tagged: “APC Aspirants Forum”.
Hunkuyi, who said that he might contest the Kaduna governorship seat in 2019 ”, stated that the forum was to “check and neutralise the power of incumbency”.
He accused El-Rufai of not being fair to the majority of the people, saying that the forum would work toward ensuring that non-performing officials were voted out.
The senator described the forum as a “thumb-down revolution” to oust El-Rufai, and urged the APC to ensure internal democracy.
“We will put structures at all levels to ensure that APC followers get credible candidates that will be rallying points for all; anything less is not negotiable,” he said.
He added that the forum, which he would lead, would work with APC leaders to ensure that the party executives and political office aspirants emerged through democratic processes.
Sen. Hunkuyi urged stakeholders to join hands with the forum to “rescue our dear party and Kaduna State from total collapse”, and promised to chart a new course in the effort toward a better Kaduna State.
Alhaji Tijjani Ramalan, Chairman, Kaduna Restoration Group, said that the group would reject El-Rufai’s candidacy “if he chooses to contest in 2019”.
Ramalan alleged that El-Rufai’s policies and actions were “anti-people”, and accused him of “having no regards to the wishes of those who supported his emergence as governor in 2015”.
He urged APC members to support the forum to protect democracy and provide its dividends to the people. ”We are told that an APC reconciliation team will come to Kaduna. If they want our support, El-Rufa’i should not run in 2019,” he said.
In a reaction, the government said it had been made aware of the “boastful and pompous claims made by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, about changing the leadership of Kaduna State in 2019 by installing himself as Governor’’.
The Senator is seeking a lifeline, in the vain belief that ratcheting up rascally actions will bring him attention and relief from the mooted National reconciliation efforts”.
“It is clear that he can’t be cured of his obsession to be governor of Kaduna State at all cost, whether through betrayal of trust, treachery, or deceit, but he should know that the State is not for sale because ordinary people, including in Hunkuyi’s Kudan Local government area, now know that governance can work for them.
“Hunkuyi has on three previous elections failed to get himself elected as governor, yet he flaunts false claims that it was him that got El-Rufai elected in 2015”
The government said it would send all political traders within the State into retirement, as it will not be swayed by their drowning antics.
Governor El-rufai’s Spokesman, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement issued on Thursday also that no one would pay heed to the attention-seeking gambits of desperate politicians who have steadily been demystified in the State.
He warned that rascally actions being undertaken by these traders in the hope of getting a lifeline from reconciliation moves will not be rewarded.
“The APC Government of Kaduna State has boldly lived up to its manifesto commitments and principles to the people, saying, it will continue to enjoy the firm support of the party’s State Executive which is united, and committed to the hard work of bringing sustainable change, it quoted”.
“Government appreciates the support it has received from the party in executing policies that stand up for the right of ordinary people to equal opportunity which was demonstrated when government took drastic action to ensure that only qualified teachers teach the children of the poor”.
He said El-Rufai was proud of his record in achieving unprecedented levels of capital spending in the state, direct job creation, doubling school enrolment and doubling the internally-generated revenue.
