Fresh crisis is rocking the Katsina State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the outcome of the recently concluded governorship and legislative primaries in the state.
The crisis is threatening the party’s chances of winning the 2023 polls as its key members have already started jumping ship to the Peoples Democratic Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
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The crisis started when one of the top contenders for the party’s governorship ticket in the state, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, recently summoned his supporters for a meeting where he said he was betrayed not to have clinched the party’s ticket.
Inuwa, who is the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), said he has his principles that he could not be controlled, which was why he was betrayed and a “clueless and subservient” candidate picked.
He, however, promised to work for the success of his supporters who won primaries in the APC and those who left for the NNPP because of injustice.
Some flag bearers and other elected officials of the party were in attendance, including the state secretary of the party, Shitu S. Shitu and other elective office holders.
Earlier, the secretary who said he was not speaking as the secretary of the party but as leader of the Dr Inuwa candidature movement, said “the result of the governorship primaries in APC was perhaps because God wanted to punish the people of the state that is why they voted for “a lioness rather than a lion.”
He said the Mustapha Inuwa movement and the struggle will continue with no retreat and no surrender.
But that did not go down well with the other camp which produced the governorship candidate of the party, particularly the state vice chairman of the party, Bala Habu Musawa.
Bala Musawa warned that any party member, including those elected on the party’s platform, who attended such a meeting where the dignity and integrity of the party’s governorship candidate would be dragged to the mud would be expelled from the party henceforth.
Musawa, who was speaking at a function attended by Governor Masari in Malumfashi, urged the governor not to interfere in the matter.
Musawa said it was up to those who were defeated to accept it in good faith or leave the party, noting that either way, the APC will be victorious at the next general elections in the state.
On his part, the APC governorship candidate in the state, Dr Dikko Radda, told the forum of vice chairmen in the state that his campaign will not be a hard one for them as they did not vote for “mortar” as their flag bearer.
Commenting on the development, the head of Political Science Department, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, Dr. Kabir Musa Yandaki, said the party in the state may lose next year’s general elections if corrective measures were not immediately taken.
“If the APC in Katsina fails to reconcile its members ahead of the 2023 general elections, the party will face serious challenges at the poll. In fact, it will lose the election.
“Already, the people are aggrieved, believing that the economic hardship faced in the country is a direct result of the party’s failures.
“With such crisis raging within the APC, the party should not waste its time expecting victory during the elections.
“And if you observe, you will notice how the major opposition parties have presented popular politicians as their flag-bearers. If you look at the PDP, it has presented a popular gubernatorial candidate, NNPP has also presented a popular candidate as its flag-bearer,” he said.
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