Alhaji Inuwa Abubakar is the National Vice Chairman in charge of the North-west zone of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He recently held a chat with some journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja over allegations of embezzlement levelled against him by his zonal woman leader. BODE OLAGOKE was there.
What do you think responsible for this allegation against your person?
Recall that on 30th December, 2016 a Press Statement was issued by Hajiya Aisha Kaita, APC Zonal Women Leader (North West) who subsequently granted press interviews which were relayed in the conventional and social media where she made a number of wild allegations against my person and the Zonal Executive Committee of the party of which she is a member. Quite a number of media correspondents contacted me for my reactions but I declined on two grounds: one, I had not read the contents of the statement at that time and secondly, I have a full knowledge that she was commissioned to take me on.
A week before she issued the press statement, the media assistants to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, disclosed to one of their colleagues in the media who reliably informed me that El-Rufai intended to take on me over the APC crisis in Kaduna State. The media assistants further disclosed that everything will be done to ensure that I am pulled down; and this they intended to achieve by teaming up with Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the former Governor of Kano State as according to them, Senator Kwankwanso too is aggrieved by the party’s decision in respect of the chairmanship position in Kano State.
However, this did not surprise me because of the previous encounters I had with their principal (Malam Nasir El-Rufai) and his threats and outbursts. Few days later, the zoonal secretary, Alhaji Tukur Abdulkadir Gusau, was called by Hajiya Aisha Kaita who along with Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso spoke with the Zonal Secretary and requested to have a meeting with him in Kaduna on 30th December 2016.
Later, Hajiya Aisha Kaita informed the zonal secretary that accommodation and other logistic arrangements will be provided by the Kaduna State Government. The zonal secretary declined.
Three basic issues were raised by Hajiya Aisha Kaita in the press statement which I consider appropriate to address.
How would you react to the allegation that you misappropriated the party fund?
Hajiya Aisha Kaita made a far-reaching criminal allegation against my person where in many instances in her statement alleged that I misappropriated party funds among other alleged financial improprieties. My reaction for now is that these are mere allegations intentionally fabricated to ridicule my person and bring me to disrepute.
I wish to state here that the only funds that were disbursed to the zone were done through the party account which was opened and operated at the instance of party’s national secretariat. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever made any remittance from March 2015 to date into the account of the party. Since then to date, the zonal secretariat and the party vehicle are being maintained at my personal expense. In addition to these, my movements to attend party meetings in Abuja and within the zone are all being undertaken at my personal expense. These finances were duly presented, discussed and approved at the last NEC meeting of the party where Hajiya Aisha Kaita attended and made contributions.
What does the crisis rocking Kano chapter of APC has to do with this allegation?
It will be recalled that Hon. Umar Haruna Doguwa, the erstwhile Chairman of Kano state chapter of the party wrote a petition to the zone over his suspension and removal as the chairman of the party by the Kano State Executive Committee. Also in line with Article 21(B) of our party’s constitution, a fact finding committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Senator (Gen.) Muhammadu Magoro, (Galadiman Zuru). The committee undertook their assignment and reported back to the zonal executive committee and the findings were considered and unanimously approved by the zonal executive committee at its meeting held on 10th December 2016 in Dutse, Jigawa Sate and attended by over 200 members inclusive of 5 Governors and 4 Deputy Governors. It should be noted that Hajiya Aisha Kaita was in Dutse for the meeting but left as soon as she collected her stipend/honourarium from the Zonal Secretary.
What about Kaduna crisis?
The Kaduna state chapter was bedevilled with crisis of leadership right from the conduct of congress for the election of party executives in the state. The crises were carried over to the conduct of the gubernatorial primaries and thereafter with the emergence of the state chairman as the gubernatorial running mate of our party’s candidate. S. I. Danladi Wada, the Deputy State Chairman of the party was to act as the Party State Chairman but somehow the then party Gubernatorial Candidate and his campaign machinery refused to recognize and allow the deputy chairman of the party to operate as such. Various reconciliatory efforts were made but to no avail and the situation had to be contained by the party in view of the campaign and election challenges the party was facing at that time.
After the elections, vacuums were created following the appointment of substantial number of members of the State Working Committee and other Executive members of the party into various executive positions in the state, thereby dwindling the membership of the various organs of the party in the State. Disharmony amongst key stakeholders of the party in the state has become so evident and this is in no way helpful to the party.
The party intervened and pacified the aggrieved members which brought about relative peace but Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State on the platform of the party and who is a key stakeholder of the party has not been forthcoming in all efforts to harmonise and solidify the party leadership structure in the state.
On several occasions, I had meetings with him where as the leader of the party in the Zone made passionate appeal for him to take leadership and drive a process that will harmonise, reconcile and solidify the party in the state.
One of such appeals I made was in the presence of other Governors from the Zone in his office but his reaction was volatile and he threatened to beat me up and prevent me from coming into Kaduna. I kept my calm as a leader considering the volatility of Kaduna State in terms of political reaction which cannot just be ignored, and the attendant threat it poses viz-a-viz the tremendous goodwill and support the party is enjoying in Kaduna State. The other Governors share the same concern with me and he was pacified and it was agreed, after consultation with all concerned, to appoint a reconciliation committee under the chairmanship of Governor Aminu Bello Masari to put some more efforts in reconciling our members into harmony.
The committee is yet to conclude its assignment but I understood that Malam Nasir El-Rufai is yet to give the necessary cooperation to the committee which I still urge him to do so for the ultimate objective of restoring peace, unity and consolidation of the party’s support in the state.
Do you think the crisis rocking the party has anything at all to do with the Southern Kaduna crisis and what do you think Hajia Kaita and el-Rufa’i want to achieve by pulling you down?
It has nothing to do with the Southern Kaduna crisis. We discovered that Southern Kaduna is a very sensitive area; there were crisis in the area before Malam el-Rufa’i. Previous governors, you will agree with me, had faced similar problems, though there could be some political connotations, but it is all about handling.
It is all about how you contain situations, it has to do with everyday business of governance; any governor can be faced with that whether it is APC or any other political party.
We are leaving witnesses to all the crisis that happened in Kaduna and I know how some governors immediately rallied round to face the problem. It is something that everybody is concerned and that is the reason we want all and sundry to be on ground to ensure that people come together to harmonize themselves to leave peacefully and also to address such kind of issues as they occur.
We are not praying for the reccurrence of such ugly situation because it affects the whole country. I however, do not think I should be the one to answer the question on what they want to achieve, they are playing politics and I have some constraints as a leader of the party leading members in my zone so I don’t really need to go into details of what they intend to achieve, whatever they intend to achieve either with me or any body, I am appealing to every member of our party to be law abiding and to be very responsive and responsible in the conduct of this game of politics.
I am suppose to be a rallying point within our party so I try to detach my personal interests where I have one, because of my duty and responsibility as a leader of the party in the zone.
I think whatever there motive is, there is a better way to conduct themselves and pursue their person interests within the party and even outside the party. They have aspirations which they are entitled to and they can aspire to whatever office they wish in accordance with the constitution of our party and that of the land.
There must however, be decorum. Our party will not accept a lawless situation and we will not encourage anything that will bring about disharmony among our members. It is legitimate for anybody to aspire to any office he wants, I repeat.
Don’t you think the decision of the national leadership of the APC with regards to the crisis in its Kano state chapter might have created factions in the party?
As I am standing here, I am not thinking, I am acting in accordance with the party´s constitution and the basic principles of democracy, as far as the party is concerned and as far as I am concerned, there is no faction in the party and in the Kano state chapter of the party.
People can disagree, even the tongue and the teeth sometimes disagree though they are together always; disagreement is allowed in politics, in fact, it is the beauty of democracy, but if there are rules that we set for ourselves then we must, and have to follow them.
These rules are contained in our constitution, the Kano state chapter for whatever reason decided to sack the chairman following due constitutional guidelines of our party after passing a vote of no confidence on him and appointed Abdullahi Abbas as acting chairman.
