By Mustapha Usman, Kano
The political tussle between the incumbent Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and his predecessor, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, has taken a new twist, following a rally staged by the latter during the APC zonal meeting in Katsina State on January 29.
A video clip showing Kwankwaso addressing mammoth crowd in a stadium in Katsina went viral on social media recently, and drew the ire of the party leaders in the state.
Crisis first broke out in the party when a faction led by Mr Ganduje mulled taking disciplinary action against Mr Kwankwaso, for allegedly “destabilizing the peace of the state” during a condolence visit to the governor in March last year.
Following the intervention of the national leaders of the party, no action was taken against the former governor over the March 2016 incident apart from sacking two of his loyalists, the state chairman of the party, Umar Doguwa, and the organising secretary, Sanusi Kwankwaso.
But the Kano chapter APC expressed displeasure at the Kwankwaso’s attitude in the video as the party constituted a nine-man committee on February 2, headed by the governor’s top loyalist, Nadu Yahaya, to investigate the matter.
In an exclusive interview with DAILY NIGERIAN correspondent, the chairman of the committee said the party watched the footage of the rally and was angry with the attitude exhibited by many of the members of the party.
The former commissioner of Land and Physical Planning and later Budget and Planning during the immediate past administration said the APC was piqued at how important personalities in its fold were abused in the clip.
“Some members of the APC from Kano State were seen in the video clip doing the wrong things. They abused some important personalities.
“Many members of the party appeared in the clip, including a member of the House of Representatives from Dala constituency and other figures in the party. Again, the party also heard a lot of comments from those that attended the gathering,” he said.
“This is why the party deemed it fit to set up a committee, which I am the chairman, to investigate the matter and submit the report within the period of two weeks,” Mr Yahaya added.
He also revealed that the committee met on Friday and would also meet on Monday, noting that the party would hold a public hearing on the matter at its secretariat to give people the chance to provide information on the video clip.
He also said the state APC chapter would travel to Katsina, where the caucus meeting was held in a bid to get more information that would assist in coming up with an objective report.
The former commissioner said further that they would also meet the APC zonal headquarters in Kaduna State on the issue.
Mr Yahaya also maintained that APC was not witch-hunting any individual or group, rather it would punish any of its members found guilty of breaching its constitution.
Mr Ganduje served as deputy governor to Mr Kwankwaso for eight years but the relationship turned sour a few months into the former’s tenure.
