The leadership tussle in the Kano state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a ridiculous dimension as two former colleagues and friends lay claim to chairmanship of the party. BASHIR MOHAMMED writes that the crisis gets messier, with the factions poised to slug it out
“Let me make it clear that my only offence was I was forced to issue a statement castigating our leader Dr.Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, but after a second thought, I went to the media and disowned the earlier statement because, I belong to the Kwankwaso fanction of APC, I served under him as Commissioner for Higher Education without regret and whoever contest for any elective office in Kano State before a new APC chairman is elected if he did not collect form from me he is wasting his time because my tenure will expire in 2018”. With the above utterances made by Alhaji Haruna Umar Doguwa, the stage is set for a dirty fight to finish and consequently deepen the crises in the Kano state chapter of APC.
The APC in Kano is currently enmeshed in a serious leadership crisis with the emergence of two factions adroitly laying claim to its ownership.
As a ruling party in the state, the APC is an entity eliciting the attention and curiosity of those seeking to judge its efficacy and influence with the aim of gauging and determining who is calling the shots at its top echelon.
With the widely held belief that every governor in the saddle of authority is widely seen and considered as the lord of the manor in the party, the APC in Kano is widely seen as a party in the pocket of governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who by virtue of his position should be the leader of the party in the state.
Such an impression begun to lose its steam, at the time the governor assumed the mantle of leadership, after succeeding his predecessor, in the face of competing interest at the top echelon of the party on the prodding of some political kingpins who were perceived to be pulling strings behind the scene.
It is a fact one cannot dismiss by a whimper that the immediate past governor of the state Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had his staunch acolytes wielding considerable at the top attested to by the servility of their unflinching loyalty to the man they see and considered as an indispensable political behemoth.
Cracks in the APC had begun to appear at the time the erstwhile chairman of the party, Haruna Umar Doguwa, a staunch loyalist of Kwankwaso lost his grip as the party’s helms man following his suspension from the party, leader to the palace coup against his leadership.
The rumpus had however taken a scathing dimension which had put the interest of the party’s loyalists at stake in the face of the emergent cold war brought about by the altercation between
governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his predecessor on account of perceived ideological war.
Doguwa’s unceremonious exit from the leadership of the party had not in any way made him to lose hope, knowing that there was thousand ways to inflame passion and curry favour from the die- hard supporters of Kwankwaso who he believed, can dictate the tide of events to his good advantage.
He had explicitly exuded too much confidence for regarding himself as the man calling the shots knowing that he was operating at large, while the party state secretariat had been taken over by the care taker committee appointed to steer the affairs of the party under the leadership of Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, a Kano prince and former Commissioner who had served under Kwankwaso.
Ganduje as an experienced politician had never lost his cool on account of the dismal turn of events in the party knowing that having his fingers on the political tiller, he is at an ample liberty to call the bluff of the architect of subtle conspiracy theories.
He was emboldened by the inescapable fact that he is surrounded by men and women of great wisdom, valour and courage and a strong personality cult who is always combat ready to defend his course in the face of gruelling odds.
It was however an incontrovertible fact that the Caretaker chairman of the party, Abdullahi Abbas is one who in the face of subtle intimidation cannot be cowed into submission by fiat.
APC under the tutelage of his leadership had maintain its grip on the political landscape of the state despite the cunning tactics adopted by some saboteurs within its fold, working round the clock to make matters worse.
The palpable tension generated by the dual claim of party leadership between Haruna Umar Doguwa and Abdullahi Abbas had appeared to be led to rest by what had transpired at the recent APC retreat held in Sokoto at the instance of the Kano state government, where to the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun addressed Ganduje’ Abdullahi Abbas as the leader of the party in Kano state.
The APC’ national chairman’s stunning pronouncement had undoubtedly sent shivers down the spines of Doguwa’s supporters that their man is no longer in the saddle of authority, having been pushed to the lower rung of the political ladder, which rendered him irrelevant and a persona non grata.
The unfolding drama in the APC in Kano had elicited the attention and discordant tunes of pundits and analysts whose perception of the current political scenario in the state is seeking to give the party a new toga in the face of the bitter rancour which had enveloped it.
According to a prominent member of the party, Alhaji Anas Abba Dala, Ganduje as governor must be respected and his opinion hold sway on the political landscape of the state since it is a vogue obtained that every sitting governor by virtue of his position, is the leader of the party in the state.
According to him, the governor is much maligned simply because he is in charge affirming that with the power of incumbency working to his advantage, no Jupiter on earth can easily call his bluff.
Laying claim to a position of authority by different warring factions according to pundits is an anachronism in an ideal democratic setting saying the right and influence of a sitting governor is concisely defined as to widen the horizon of cynics to comprehend the true situation of things.
Ganduje according to pundits, had appeared to have gotten a discernible edge over his predecessor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whose iron boot is most feared by those who are frightened by his pugilist vocabulary and red scare.