Katsina rally: APC probe panel to question Kwankwaso
FormerGovernorofKano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, will be invited by an investigative committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano to answer questions on the rally organized by members of the Kwankwasiyya movement in Katsina recently, chairman of the committee, Muhammad Nadu Usman, has disclosed.
Kano State chapter of the APC last week set up the committee to probe the oganizers of the rally which Kwankwaso addressed.
Yahaya said the committee would invite Senator Kwankwaso and all the big-wigs of the Kwankwasiyya group who attended the meeting to answer some questions before it. “We are ready to meet the former governor wherever is convenient for him. All we are after is justice,” he said.
Thousands of Kwankwaso’s loyalists, under the auspices of the movement, converged on Katsina, the venue of the just concluded APC’s zonal meeting, on the assumption that the meeting would discuss the lingering Kano crisis. But having realised that the meeting was not meant to discuss the Kano crisis, some elders among them appealed to Kwankwaso to address his followers at Muhammad Dikko Stadium. The former governor granted the request and addressed the crowd for few minutes.
Daily Trust on Sunday observed that after the rally, a video clip showing the leader and founder of Kwankwasiyya addressing a mammoth crowd of his supporters went viral on the social media. This development led to the constitution of a nine-member committee by the APC leadership in Kano State to investigate the motive behind the rally. According to the party, the action of the Kwankwasiyya group contravened the rules and regulations guiding political rallies as prescribed by both the Nigerian and APC’s constitutions.
The Alhaji Abdullahi Abbasled APC accused Senator Kwankwaso and his supporters of organising an ‘illegal’ political rally and exhibiting what they described as ‘unruly behaviour.’
The nine-man committee, under the leadership of Muhammad Nadu Yahaya, was therefore mandated to investigate why Kwankwasiyya organised the rally even though it was not a season of political rallies or campaigns; why the rally coincided with the party’s zonal meeting in Katsina; why it was held at the venue of the meeting; who organised the rally and why; what transpired at the rally, and who among the members of the party attended it.
Our correspondent learnt that part of the committee’s assignment was to meet with some APC members in Katsina State, police authorities and members of the Kwankwasiyya group. The committee had only two weeks to complete its assignment and report back to the party.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday, the chairman of the Kano State chapter of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, said the Kwankwasiyya rally in Katsina was illegal and must be investigated thoroughly to forestall reoccurrence in the future. He said the investigation was aimed at bringing sanity to political activities in Kano State.
“This is not the time for political campaign or rally. The leadership of the party in Kano will not fold its arms and watch some of its members violate its constitution and the nation’s constitution at will. We will not let them go scot-free.
“The worst part of the whole issue is that these people made some ambiguous pronouncements at the rally, which need to be investigated. We are expecting the nine-member committee to establish who the Kwankwasiyya followers referred to as a witch? They said at the rally that a witch in the APC had dominated the party. We want to know who that witch is,” Abbas stated.
He said the party was expecting the report of the committee on Thursday, February 16, 2017, adding that as soon as he got the report he would not hesitate to take appropriate action against any member that had a hand in organising the rally.
He said it was time the party in Kano State put an end to unconstitutional rallies organised by some of its members. He recalled that a similar rally was held in Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State when the party held its zonal meeting there few months ago.
Abbas reiterated that the leadership of the party would not allow its name to be tainted by members of Kwankwasiyya in their efforts to achieve some political goals. He said the APC as a political party was guided by constitution, therefore, all party members, irrespective of their statuses, must respect the rules and regulations governing the party.
“It is apparent that the rally, organised by Kwankwasiyya in Katsina State, was political, and by doing so, the group has violated both the Nigerian constitution and the APC constitution. This is unacceptable, and we will not allow this to continue. The party will definitely sanction any of its members found violating these constitutions,” he said.
However, political pundits in Kano State said the move to probe the Kwankwasiyya rally was nothing but a continuation of the persistent battle of political supremacy between the incumbent governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Senator Kwankwaso. They said members of the group did not commit any crime by attending the APC meeting in Katsina since they are also cardcarrying members of the party. Also, according to them, there is nothing wrong if Senator Kwankwaso addressed his supporters on the same day the party held its zonal meeting.
Commenting on the development, Dr. Yunusa Adamu Dangwani, Kwankwaso’s diehard loyalist, said that as far as the Kwankwasiyya group was concerned, the probe committee as constituted by the APC was illegal; hence they would not support its activities.
“First of all, the reasons given by the APC for constituting the committee were not justifiable. In fact, the issue of constituting this committee does not even arise in the first place because as far as Kwankwasiyya is concerned, Alhaji Umar Haruna Doguwa is the chairman of the APC in Kano; therefore, any committee constituted by any other person in the name of the APC, apart from him, is unconstitutional and we will not honour it.
“We have never recognised Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas as the chairman of the APC in Kano; hence we will not honour anything related to the party that comes through him. This is our stand and there is no going back.
“We neither violated the nation’s constitution nor that of the APC. We were in Katsina like other party members to monitor the zonal meeting, and our leader, Dr. Kwankwaso, addressed us in a stadium. What is the crime in this? Are we not entitled to the freedom of public meeting? So, as far as I am concerned, the entire move by the Abdullahi Abbas-led APC to probe our rally is childish.
“No member of the Kwankwasiyya group will honour any invitation from the committee. How can we honour an invitation from a committee constituted by someone we do not recognise as our leader? Nobody from our side will honour such invitation because we will not support illegality,” Dangwani said.
Yahaya said though the committee had gone far in its investigation, they would likely seek for an extension of one or two weeks.
He assured that adequate time would be given to every party member involved in the rally to defend himself before the committee. He revealed that the committee had already visited Katsina State and met with police authorities, some members of the party and the chairman of Katsina Local Government, where the rally took place.
He alleged that some members of the National Assembly who attended the meeting had attempted to go to the Katsina Government House to disrupt the APC zonal meeting, a situation that resulted in the deployment of more security personnel to the place.
“The committee will call for a public hearing to enable party members who attended the rally to give their testimonies before it. We will also meet the party zonal executive in Kaduna State to give their inputs,” he said.