Kaduna APC splinter group elects new leaders

The Kaduna Restoration Group, a group within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, critical of Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s government, has split with the new leadership pledging allegiance to the party and seeking reconciliation with the governor’s faction. Some disenchanted members of the group who announced a new faction in the state at the weekend also unveiled new leadership of the group led by Honourable Awwal Aliyu Tafoki as chairman and Mohammed Lawal Shehu, also known as Molash, as secretary. The splinter faction said the decision to dump the Alhaji Tijjani Ramalan’s Kaduna Restoration Group was informed by the need to restore the group to its founding ideals. Addressing journalists in Kaduna at the weekend, the newly elected chairman said the new leadership intends to use politics as a tool for growth and development of the state and noted that arrangements had been concluded to initiate a genuine process of reconciliation between members of the group and the APC led government in the state. Tafoki, who emphasised that fanning embers of disunity in Kaduna APC must stop forthwith, assured that, “Insha Allah, we shall henceforth work towards the success of our party, the APC in the forthcoming general elections.” Speaking on why the disenchanted members dumped the Tijjani Ramalan- led group that also has Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi in its fold, he said, “lot of water has passed under the bridge in the last one year. The big questions remain: What is the ultimate goal of the Kaduna Restoration Group? What is the effect of the Kaduna Restoration Group’s activities on our great party, the APC? “In our attempt to answer these questions, we came to the conclusion that the behaviour and utterances of the senior politicians that dragged us into the group show that their goals are different from the ideals that were advertised to us. “They were using the group to pursue personal agendas. They were using it for incitement and deliberate attempts to cause disunity and destabilise the state,” he added