The governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje has shunned the Kano APC reconciliation meeting by the party’s National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and executive governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.
On Tuesday last week, the reconciliation meeting was first held to reconcile two factions of the party in Kano, led by Mr Ganduje and Senator Ibrahim Shekarau respectively.
The meeting was postponed to enable the two factions come up with a sharing formula of the party structure in Kano.
At the resumed sitting held Tuesday at the Yobe Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, Mr Shekarau led Senator Barau Jibrin, Reps Shaaban Sharada, Abdulkadir Jobe, Haruna Dederi, among other members of the camp to the meeting.
But Senator Kabiru Gaya; House Leader, Alhassan Doguwa and; chairman Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, Ali Wudil, who are from Mr Ganduje’s side, said they attended the meeting in their personal capacity not on behalf of the governor.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that the governor’s absence and inability of either to propose a sharing formula or send a representation forced meeting to end in stalemate.
The reconciliation panel, which includes Mai Mala Buni, former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Senator Abba Aji, then adjourned the meeting sine die, and then gave the governor Thursday to schedule another meeting at his convinient date and time.
Why Ganduje shunned the meeting
Inside sources told DAILY NIGERIAN that the governor had summoned an emergency meeting and chartered a private jet from Kano to Abuja on Saturday to decide whether the governor would attend the reconciliation meeting.
In attendance at the crucial meeting held at Aminu Kano House, Abuja were embattled factional chairman of the party, Abdullahi Abbas; commissioner for Local Government, Murtala Garo and party chieftain Nasir Aliko-Koki.
Top on the agenda of the meeting was the issue of sharing formula of party structure with Mr Shekarau’s faction. The second important issue discussed at the meeting was the state of the pending appeal.
Sources said the governor was advised not to attend or send representative to the meeting “as they were optimistic about court victory”.
They argued that it was preposterous that a sitting governor would be asked to share portions of the structure with others, while other APC governors control everything in their states.
Spokesman for the governor, Abba Anwar, did not answer our reporter’s call nor respond to a text message seeking his response.
Background
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the APC in Kano is enmeshed in internal crisis, with two factions holding parallel ward, local government and state congresses.
An FCT high court presided by Justice Hamza Muazu late last year upheld the ward and local government congresses conducted by the Shekarau-led faction.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the Ganduje-led faction appealed the case, seeking reversal of the lower court’s decision. The case is still pending at the appellate court.
