LG congresses: Shehu Sani, Hunkuyi lead protest to Abuja

Accuse el-Rufa’i of doctoring delegate list

By Bode Olagoke Abuja

A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state, led by Senators Suleiman Hunkuyi and Shehu Sani, yesterday took their protest to the National Secretariat of the party, accusing Governor Nasir El-Rufai of manipulating last Saturday’s local government congresses held in the state.
Th e faction is demanding for the cancelation of the exercise described as kangaroo, and urged him to reappoint a very credible team of state congress committee for the state.

Th e aggrieved APC leaders, who spoke with newsmen also declared that the “National Working Committee does not have a choice but to stick to the party’s rules guiding the delegate election.” Recounting how their faction was sidelined, Hunkuyi said: “Th e acting state chairman and some of the stakeholders, were said to have held the meeting at the Kaduna state Government House under the chairmanship of the state Political Adviser to the Governor (Uba Sanni), and have concluded and issued a list of local government delegates purported to be the list to be submitted to the state congress committee sent to Kaduna.

“All eff orts through phone calls to persuade the acting state chairman to come back to the proper venue of the meeting and call the state congress committee to do the stakeholders briefi ng failed. Some of those who were stampeded into attending the Government House meeting joined to report that they were told there will not be any election or even stakeholders briefi ng.

“Th ey were told the Kaduna state government has decided to call off the process and submit a list which the Political Adviser tendered to them. Th ey were told that they were only summoned to be informed. Th is is in clear breach of the guidelines which stipulate that stakeholders meet and be briefed at the party offi ce on 28th July 2017 to explain the process of conduct of the election to be held next day, July 29.” According to him, utmost transparency is what is expected in all elections and that in all respects, votes cast must be counted and results announced and recorded on the spot. “Mr. Chairman, none of the guidelines was respected in conducting the kangaroo process that produced the list for submission. As very responsible members of the APC, we wish to remind Mr. Chairman of the already bad conduct of the party in Kaduna state.”

Buttressing his point, Senator Sani said they came to register their grievances over attempt by the state government to write the names of delegates and send same to the national leadership as delegates for the party’s National Convention. “We are opposed to that. And our concern is the fact that the guidelines of the party stipulate that delegates should be elected or emerge through consensus, but none was followed.

Th ey sat down in the palace of their thugs, write names and send it to Abuja for us to accept hook, line and sinker, but that will never happen. “Secondly, we are also here to state very clearly to the national leadership that we are under siege in Kaduna. Th e use of thugs and violence by agents and close associates of the governor is one thing we cannot tolerate. Sponsored thugs last weekend besieged the NUJ Secretariat in Kaduna, raided the secretariat, destroyed property, attacked us and the journalists and left a journalist, Lawal Mohammed, in the pool of his own blood. Th at cannot be the compass of this party. We are here to call in the national leadership to set up an investigation panel to bring the perpetrators of that violence to book,” the lawmaker said.

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