APC Committee To Settle Rift Between Shekarau, Kwankwaso

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Former Chairman, APC Reconciliation Committee

The reconciliation committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) headed by Abubakar Baraje has concluded plans commence reconciliation of the warring parties in the five states where the governors are in a supremacy battle with erstwhile leaders of the party.
There are strong indications that the committee would move to Kano this weekend as its first point of call to settle the sharp division  between Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and his predecessor in office, Ibrahim Shekarau both of whom are battling for the soul of the party in the state.

NewsInvestigators learnt that the Baraje Committee has concluded plans to commence the peace-building effort with a view to forging a strong front against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP potential threats in those states.

Governors in five PDP controlled states of Kano, Adamawa, Kwara, Yobe and Rivers recently decamped to the APC when they could not be reconciled with the mainstream PDP.

No sooner the moved into the opposition APC than crisis erupted over the control of the party structures in those state as the erstwhile leaders were not willing to give way to the new entrants.

At its last meeting in Abuja, the APC Interim National Executive Committee, Chief Bisi Akande announced the setting up of  reconciliation committee  to look into the crisis rocking five states, where the G-7 governors are locked in a supremacy battle with local leaders of the party.

The misunderstanding got to the point where one of the key leaders of APC in Kano  state  and the former governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau y led a large crowd of party faithfuls to  temporarily occupy  the party headquarters In Abuja.

Shekarau who was also accompanied by top members of ANPP in the state, including some members of the National .assembly,  said the party faithfuls felt it was not right to disregard the contributions of dedicated leaders of the party in the state in a bid to attract new members.

According to Shekarau,  “one of the pillars upon which the merger was built is internal democracy, adding that if there is no internal democracy in the parties, then democracy is doomed in Nigeria,” he said.

He faulted the memorandum of understanding entered into with the five defecting governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) , saying such agreement was reached in total disregard to the peculiarities of states like Kano and the preeminence of the founding leaders of APC and their supporters.

“We bring to you the feelings, concerns and vision of the people of Kano as far as APC is concerned. Politics is about people and meeting the wishes and aspirations of the people, if there are no people behind us we cannot call ourselves leaders of political party. We will be failing in our responsibilities if we disregard the feeling and wishes of the people, ” he said.

Shekarau’s group, in their protest letter  to the Baraje reconciliation committee, are demanding that the party should accept the list of state harmonization committee already formed by the APC leaders in the states and to direct the governors and their supporters to work with  the harmonization.

The leadership  crisis  was triggered-off by one of the terms of the deal with the governors which empowered them take over control of APC structures in their states.

The arrangement however  did not go down well with other party leaders who protested  that the deal amounted to relegating their status and contributions to the formation of APC.