Why I dumped Ganduje for Shekarau – Former deputy gov

• …I won’t leave APC – Former gov

Professor Hafiz Abubakar, a former deputy governor of Kano State in the first term of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said he is aligning himself with the future by pitching his tent with Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, the arch-rival of the governor in the state’s APC.

Shekarau, a two-term governor and current senator representing Kano Central, had led some federal lawmakers and other stakeholders of the APC in Kano to break away from the Ganduje-led leadership of the party in the state.

The crisis had led to two parallel executives of the party in the state with Abdullahi Abbas emerging as the Ganduje-endorsed chairman and Ahmadu Haruna Danzago as chairman of the Shekarau camp.

 Prof Abubakar, who resigned as Ganduje’s deputy in 2018 but later reunited with him after the 2019 elections, was sighted at a political event at Shekarau’s house in Kano yesterday.

He told journalists at the sideline of the event that he is aligning himself with Shekarau’s camp, which he described as the future of the party.

“I am aligning myself with the truth and future, which is the Shekarau’s camp because it is talking about internal democracy and all-inclusiveness in party politics.

“My position is that I’m aligning myself with the truth and future. But the truth is that what is going on in APC is really unfortunate. It is not what we and all our supporters expected. 

“Today, it is public knowledge that the leaders of APC in Kano go to public functions and tell us that the party belongs to three persons in the state – the governor, his wife and the chairman,” he said.

Efforts to get a reaction from both Governor Ganduje and the party’s executive led by Abdullahi Abbas were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. 

Meanwhile, Senator Shekarau has declared that he will not leave the ruling APC, saying he will save the party from collapse and salvage the people of Kano.

Speaking during the meeting of his Shura Council, held at his residence in Kano, Shekarau said he decided to form a faction within APC because the principles of internal democracy had been violated by the Ganduje-led leadership of the party in the state.

He also revealed that several members of Ganduje’s government are with the G-7.