From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The fact that something untoward is happening in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State is no longer news. In the last few months, several incidents have left the party in tatters. One of them happened on November 2, 2013. On that day, the news of an attempt by some unidentified hoodlums to burn the party's new secretariat, along Zoo road, woke up many residents of the city and sent fears down their spines.
The news was largely promoted by the members of the PDP and was confirmed by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Ja'far Sani Bello.
Some witnesses said the miscreants, who were alleged to be proxies of the other faction of the party, stormed the secretariat at dawn and attempted to set it ablaze, but were chased away by some good Samaritans, who also put out a flash of fire that had been lit on a vehicle parked nearby.
The state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Musa Daura, however, denied anything of such ever happened.
If the credibility of the incident could not be absolutely established; that of a similar case, two weeks back, was indisputable. That fracas led to pains and injuries and nearly unsettled the fragile tone of peace in the state.
Investigation by Saturday Sun indicated that four persons, on that day, forced their way into the party's secretariat, stabbed a few persons with knives and other local weapons and threw the whole office into confusion.
The attack, which happened around 1:30pm, was apparently a reaction to the inauguration of the nine members of the Caretaker Committee of the party a few days earlier.
The Caretaker Committee members, who were appointed by the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and had started work, are Shehu Sagagi, Kawu Gurijiya, Tukur Sallau, Jafar Sani Bello, Lawan Yanusa, Almed Tukur Rabiu Dan Shariff and Ladidi Garba, among others.
A victim, Alhaji Ja' afar Sani Bello told Saturday Sun at the Accident and Emergency Ward of Nassarawa Specialist Hospital, Kano that he was attacked with a knife by PDP members of the other faction.
A journalist with Radio Nigeria, Pyramid FM, Abubakar Adamu Rano, who was at the scene of the attack, confirmed that a number of people jumped down from the two storey building in the wake of the mayhem.
In all, four party members were arrested. They have since been flown to Abuja headquarters of the police for interrogation.
This growing tension in the party in the state in the recent time underscores the desperate struggle for the control of the leadership of the party by political gladiators ahead of the 2015 polls.
This struggle is between two established factions, namely the faction directly linked to the Kano State Governor, Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, otherwise known and identified as "Kwankwassiyya Movement" .
This other faction is a loose confederation of different cells and interest groups, united by their common objection to the manner the party is being administered to their exclusion over the last two years.
A further classification of the combatants indicates that while the Kwankwassiyya tendency in Kano PDP could be linked to the nPDP, the other faction is deeply loyal to Abuja and the main PDP.
This faction (the main PDP) is led by Alhaji Aminu Wali, Nigeria's ambassador to China and one-time deputy national chairman of the PDP. Their members are heavyweights in their rights and include such big names like the sons of Nigeria's two former heads of state, Alhaji Mohammed Abacha and Alhaji Abba Murtala Mohammed, former military administrator of Niger State, Col. Habibu Shuaibu, a former PDP state party chairman, Senator Mas'ud Jubril Doguwa, the Secretary to the National Dialogue Committee, Dr. Akilu Ndabawa, and a seasoned politician in the country, Alhaji Abba Dabo.
Other members of this faction include two former Speakers of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na'Abba and Alhaji Salisu Imam Buhari, the two PDP senators representing Kano Central and Kano North in the Senate, Senator Bello Isa Hayatu and Senator Bashir Lado as well as some elders of the party.
The tension, which has pitched these factions against each other, has been as old as 2011. In the past, the Wali-led main PDP faction of the party had accused the governor of alienating them from the benefits of their common victory, in addition to the total absence of internal democracy in the party.
This faction had also faulted the personification of their collective brand in the form of Kwankwassiyya, saying members of the party were being compelled to dress in a particular way.
But in their defence, the Kwankwassiyya faction had argued that not everybody that claimed to be a member of the PDP in the state worked for the victory of the party at the last gubernatorial elections, adding that those who had excused themselves while the planting was going on, need not expect to reap where they did not sow.
Comrade Sale Jilly, a leading member of the Kwankwassiya faction, confirmed this defence as he told Saturday Sun that the accusations against the governor and his supporters were unfounded and unreliable.
However, the present dispute is mainly associated to appointment of the Dr. Hassan Kayfos Kanuma Caretaker Committee of the party following the expiration of the tenure of the party's state executive council in the state some months ago. Whoever controls the party structure at this time would have a strong influence in deciding the fate of whoever would have the tickets of the party in 2015.
Saturday Sun was told that the appointment of the Caretaker Committee at this strategic time when the governor is at war with Abuja is unsettling to the members of the Kwankwasiyya faction, who fear that the committee is clearly a clever way to bring to an end the control of the party by the governor and his sympathizers.
Indication that the new development is not well received by them could seen from the position of the elected chairmen of PDP in the 44 local government chapters in Kano State following its emergency meeting on Wednesday, 22nd October, 2013. A majority of these elected chairmen are loyal to the Kwankwassiyya faction.
In their statement, which ran as advertorial in several newspapers, they held that the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party does not recognize a caretaker arrangement, insisting also that there is no way an appointed committee can oversee the elected layer of the party at ward and local government levels.
"We view the caretaker arrangement as unconstitutional and subsequently went to court to challenge that decision. Our prayer was consequently granted by the court which ordered that the status quo be maintained," they stated.
They added that despite this position: "The caretaker committee chairman and his secretary sneaked into Kano and unilaterally recruited nine other persons unknown to our party as members of the caretaker committee and inaugurated themselves and commissioned an office in Kano surreptitiously . The National Working Committee's time- table for Kano Congress was 14 days, but the mandate given to the purported caretaker committee was 90 days, this is indeed curious! We, therefore, feel that the intention of establishing the purported caretaker committee is devilish"
However, whatever sympathy or understanding they may have garnered within the party and beyond following their presentation, faded away too soon, following unfolding political events which placed their principal in a romantic position with the opposition APC.
For instance, the body language of the governor of late suggests a move to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the coming months. Today in Kano, the speculation of his possible move is rife, spoken in high and low places. And last Thursday's visit by the entire leadership of the APC to the governor went very far to validate this political assumption.
In fact, in the course of the melodrama of the historical visit at the Kano State Government House, it was only the blind that could not read the signs of the times.
The National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, smiling happily like a man who had won a trophy had proudly remarked in reference to the alleged travail of G7 PDP governors as follows:
"All over the world and throughout history, wherever small minds are in power; great minds are persecuted. In recognition of this and in the wisdom of the APC, we decided to come and solidarize with you, because we know that you have great minds and that some of you are being persecuted in your political party.
We have also come to showcase our own party, the All Progressives Congress(APC) as a platform and a soft ground for minds like yours. And for that reason, we have decided to come to let you know that there are plenty of rooms in the APC for great minds like you."
On his part, former head of state and one of the leaders of the delegation, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) reiterated: "I am here with my colleagues and the governors from other states to convince you personally and Nigeria and the world that we feel very uncomfortable without Kano coming along with us. We are here on a very tough and ruthless recruitment drive".
And for all he cares, the governor, Engineer Kwankwaso seemed to have enjoyed every second of the visit. Nothing in his disposition indicated that he was not happy with the visit, which started off with a one hour closed-door meeting.
Saturday Sun gathered that his closeness to the APC may be one of the reasons the PDP is planning ahead with a view to reinventing itself in the event of the exit of the Kwankwassiyya faction to the opposition party.
However, last Saturday, the chairman of the caretaker committee, Dr. Hassan Kayfos Kanuma, finally made his triumphant entry into the state. He was received by a huge turnout of non-Kwankwassiya members of the PDP in the state.
Kanuma, who described his committee as an emissary of peace, goodwill and progress, acknowledged the huge challenges before them as he stepped into the mantle of PDP leadership in the state; but pledged to mend fences, to be fair to all and to bring about a party structure that would be generally acceptable.
The chairman, who warned that he would not tolerate a parallel PDP structure in the state, affirmed that his doors are open to all aggrieved members in the state as long as they are ready to abide by the party's constitution.
He said: "Nothing will deter us from or make us falter in the pursuit of sustainable peace and positive progress in the significant assignment we are mandated to carry out for the good people of Kano."
True, he was quite optimistic about the future of the party in the state and the prospect of accomplishing his appointment, but many observers believe that only time would tell what would become of the PDP in Kano State with a strong and formidable branch of it already in love with APC.
The post Kano PDP: A divided house (http://sunnewsonline.com/new/politics/kano-pdp-divided-house/) appeared first on The Sun News (http://sunnewsonline.com/new).
Division is not in any way what we need now in any state whatsoever. Unity is key!
And yet we keep preaching United we stand, Divided we fall.
Is that happening now?