The ex-minister of Information/communications, Hon. Dasuki Salihu Nakande, has frowned at the sidelining the members Plateau state Muslims from the the Tinubu/Shettima
campaign council.
The APC stalwart, in a statement, said he was unable to get over the shock of that gripped him, after seeing the list of those that made it to the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Council from Plateau State.
“The list is not only skewed against Muslims in Plateau but sadly, reflected how poorly we are being considered as a group by the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau state.
“When I first drew the attention of our people to the likelihood of this earlier in the year, some of our people, especially, those close to the government in Plateau thought I was over-reacting, but this is where we have found ourselves.
“Out of ten persons that made the list, six are from the southern senatorial zone where the governor hails from while the Central and Northern zones have two each,” he said.
Nakande said despite the fact that the Plateau Muslims were the building blocks of APC in the state, “only one person is a Muslim among the list, and their contributions have been largely responsible for the growth of the party in the state.”
He said it is an incontrovertible fact that has openly been acknowledged by many stakeholders including the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong who after winning his election in 2015 said that the Hausa-Fulani-Muslims in Plateau made him governor.
He added that Lalong has in 2019, also sought and got the support of this bloc and equally owes his return and the acceptance of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari to our support.
“Not only that, our people have never wavered when it comes to demonstrating their support for the party unless they see a clear case of manipulation to deny them their rights as it happened in the last House of Representatives election for Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency,” he said.
Nakande said their support for the APC did not just happen, because as their people form the nucleus of the legacy parties especially CPC and ANPP that made up the APC.
“We are therefore, taken aback that with such a rich background of support and contribution to the APC, that not even one of our persons has been considered fit to be included in the council.
“This can only mean either that our support is being taken for granted or somebody somewhere is trying to take us for a ride,” he said.