Shekarau Reveals How Ganduje Tried To Stop His Defection To NNPP

Senator Ibrahin Shekarau has revealed that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano pleaded with him and asked him not to join in the New Nigeria Progressives Party (NNPC)

Speaking to newsmen shortly after his decamping from the All Progressive Congress (APC), the Senator blamed Ganduje for his decision to leave the ruling APC.

He stated that despite his contribution to the APC, the governor refused to carry him and his followers along.

Shekarau wrote: “The constitution of the party provides for caucus meeting, elders meeting at all levels and members of the caucus, members of the elders committees as in the constitution are least, no one has the right as far the party constitution to reconstitute the composition of such bodies as spelt out in the party constitution. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, I was never invited to such meeting.

“Ganduje approached me in his first tenure and asked me to nominate one person to be appointed commissioner. Shehu Na’allah Kura was one of the loyal and hardworking party members. So I gave his name.

“The governor approached me again during his second term that he is granting our group two positions of commissionership, but he has selected one for us, we are go select one. And he said, he has selected Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso and we said this is fraudulent.

“In the first place, we are not disowning Kwankwaso but the fact is that he had been in APC and as a commissioner over a year ahead of our defection to APC and as such, while we agree he’s one of us, but if we were to select, he couldn’t have been the one by any standard. I therefore said since you are technically giving us only one position, you already had Shehu Na’allah Kura. If you want to continue with him, we have no objection and he agreed and hence Kura was reappointed for the second term.

“Apart from that, Governor Ganduje never requested our group to submit a name for any kind of appointment. In spite of our contributions which he came personally to beg; at the stadium everybody saw him saying ‘we are begging you to come’, and he and the national chairman insisted. The entire national executives came to this very house and insisted I must come in to help without any condition at all.

“When the local government elections came, some two years ago, we were not involved at all. In my position, even if I were never a governor, minister or senator, at least, at my age in my local government or ward, I deserve some attention as an elder in the party in my Ward and local government. Surprisingly, I was never consulted, never contacted and those to contest the local government election; chairman and councillors were traditionally nominated not elected at any party structure meeting. Nobody consulted me to nominate any, even the councillor of my Ward.

“The party leaders know that I have governed Kano for eight years, there’s no ward in the 484 in Kano where I do not have mass followership.

“Sadly, when it came to the party congresses, where party leadership were to be elected, even that, there were nominations but none of us; three senators from Kano as senior citizens of the party in Kano were involved in the nomination of even an ex-officio of our ward. I have no input, I know no one in the 27 membership of the Exco in my Ward. Similar to that of Senators Barau and Gaya (Kano North & Kano South).”