Nine days to the rescheduled North West Zonal congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the two warring groups in the Kano chapter of the party are yet to shift ground, Daily Trust reports.
The dispute between the camps of former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, over the zonal vice chairmanship position has been a major problem in the conclusion of the zonal congress of the party in the North West.
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With the position zoned to Kano State, the two party leaders, who have always been at loggerheads, saw the position as a means to further cement their supremacy in the zone and beyond, and as such held nothing back in flexing their muscles with the aim of cornering the position for themselves.
Over nine months ago, the initial congress held in Kaduna State was scuttled following a violence that broke out between the two groups with the Kwankwaso group roping the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal into the dispute by alleging that he was the one behind Wali’s group.
Tambuwal and Kwankwaso are among the major politicians that analysts have picked as having what it takes to fly the party’s presidential flag in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election; as such, the introduction of Tambuwal into an otherwise Kano-PDP power tussle came as no surprise to political observers.
On January 13, the party’s national secretariat announced February 12 as the new date for the botched Kaduna zonal congress of the party.
The National Organizing Secretary, Hon. Umaru M. Bature, in a terse statement announcing the new date, said the congress is going to be “for the purpose of electing NW Zonal Working Committee and national ex-officios”.
That was part of the resolution of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) at its meeting on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, he said.
He added that all critical stakeholders and teeming members of the party in the North-West Zone were by that informed and guided accordingly.
But reacting to an inquiry by one of our reporters, Shehu Sagagi, the party’s chairman in Kano loyal to the Kwankwasiyya movement said, “Already we have taken action and everybody knows our stance. We have our candidate and we are politicians. We are not afraid of any contest. In fact, that’s why we are in politics.”
He said anyone who thinks he can do the job is free to go ahead and join the contest but that they remain solidly behind their “consensus” candidate, Mohammed Jamo.
Asked if they have reached out to the Wali faction, Sagagi said “We are not aware of any faction; I hope they are still in PDP.”
On the group’s position with Sokoto State governor, he said “I think he (Tambuwal) has reached out to everybody and we have reached out to him. We have a very good understanding. We are expecting a very seamless congress.”
But a chieftain of the party belonging to the Wali group, Comrade Sa’idu Bello, said they remain solidly behind Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo for the vice chairmanship position as against Jamo being promoted as a consensus candidate by Kwankwasiyya group.
“No going back. He (Gwarzo) is the one we fielded as our candidate and we are optimistic he will succeed and win the election, “he said.
Speaking about their plans ahead of the congress, he said “We will win the election and already we believe that election should be held because it is the only way to compliment democracy.
“Internal democracy defines national democracy; so if we win this election we win, if we lose we lose.
“We do not intend any form of violence. We pray everything goes fine. All we need is the party to make sure it fields the right candidate who will assist it to succeed in the forthcoming elections.
“Everyone has seen how the country is currently is in the hands of APC. The issue of internal crisis is not something that should happen or we need.”
Daily Trust reports that 17 zonal positions, including seven ex-officio, are to be shared among the seven states in the zone – Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
But during the ill-fated congress at the Kaduna Trade Fair Complex on April 10, supporters of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Kwankwaso clashed, leading to an abrupt postponement of the exercise.
Kwankwaso had accused Tambuwal of hobnobbing with Wali to interfere in the affairs of the party in Kano State, an allegation the Sokoto State governor vehemently denied and called ‘baseless’.
The situation then forced the leadership of the party to constitute a caretaker committee for the zone.
But the crisis between Kwankwaso and Wali dates as far back as 2018 when the former governor re-joined the PDP and it was reported that the party’s national leadership at that time had given him 51% control of the party, leaving the remaining 49% to be shared among another former governor, Ibrahim Shekarau (before he decamped to the APC), Wali and Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo.
Despite issuing denial on several occasions, the rumour and permutations that the leader of the Kwankwasiyya group, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, may be concluding plans to ditch PDP once again have refused to go away.
Recently, messages were circulated on social media that Kwankwaso and leaders of the Kwankwasiyya movement across the country have formed a political third force they intend to launch very soon.
But while the likes of Sagagi and Sanusi Bature, an aide of Kwankwaso, denied any knowledge of the said third force, other senior members of the Kwankwasiyya movement that are considered closer to Kwankwaso, like the spokesman of the movement, Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, did not answer calls to their lines.
Pundits, however, believe the Kaduna zonal congress will play a pivotal role in the next step for the Kwankwasiyya movement and also determine the fate of the PDP in the North West zone as the 2023 general elections draw nearer.
This crisis, they believe, may be the litmus test for the nascent Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, especially with the view that the perceived power behind the NWC said to be Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, is believed to be scheming to edge all presidential aspirants of the party from the North from clinching the party’s mandate.
From Clement A. Oloyede & Salim Umar Ibrahim (Kano)
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