From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
A gubernatorial aspirant and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna state, Alhaji Salisu Mohammed Lukman has said his party, APC may lose the battle to claim Kaduna state from the present Peoples Democratic Party government, not because the state is unconquerable but because of selfish and personal interest of some party members at the detriment of the interest of the party in the state.
Alhaji Lukman who stated this during a press conference held in Kaduna over the weekend specially fingered the activities of the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai whom he accused of running APC in the state as a personal property.
“From my stay in APC, I discovered that since Mallam El-Rufai came on board, he has shown that he has no respect for anybody’s views or opinion. And if there is anybody at all that he has some iota of respect for, it is Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.
“This attitude of Mallam El-Rufai has plunged the party into several crises in the state as experienced in the last ward congress where imposition of candidates was perfected by his team and this was rejected by members of the party. That is why it took us three months before we can conduct a successful ward congress. As I’m talking to you three local governments have not had their congress because of the same imposition.
“In a political party like ours, you build the party and not selfish interest but Mallam El-Rufai is only building his self interest. We all that are aspiring to clinch the party’s ticket for the gubernatorial seat cannot be successful; but one candidate will emerge and we as a party have to rally round him to emerge victorious at the general poll.
“In the same vein, the former FCT minister single handedly nominated and submitted the name of Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi as the deputy national welfare officer to the National Executive without consulting party members in the state. I, as a person have no any objection to such nomination, but in the interest of party unity and stability he should have consulted stakeholders of the party in the state before taking such a decision. This is what is happening in PDP that we’re trying to correct, and we don’t want such practice in our party,” he said.
Alhaji Lukman added that Kaduna state is open for grabs by the opposition and the party will only have itself to blame if it allow this golden opportunity to slip out of its hands because of the interest of some selfish people.
“I and you know that the present governor of Kaduna state cannot come out openly to campaign for second term. He can only ask to be allowed for the second tenure because if he wants to campaign, people will ask him what are the projects on ground and your answer is as good as mine because Kaduna state has virtually been on standstill since the demise of Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa,” Lukman concluded.
