The crisis in the Kaduna State chapter of the ruling All Progressive (APC) has taken another dimension as the party divides into three factions.
As members loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari are allegedly called ‘APC Sack’, those loyal to the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Elrufai are called ‘APC Government House’ while another group, ‘APC Akida,’ is championed by Alhaji Yero Makama, Senator Shehu Sani, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and Mr Tom Mataimaki Maiyashi.
Even though Governor El-rufai is said to have described the Akida group as ‘ants he will crush’, both Maiyashi and Baba-Ahmed were instrumental in the formation of APC structures in Kaduna State.
The ‘APC Sack’ group is out to defend President Buhari’s policies because they believe they brought him to power.
The group loyal to Governor El-rufai is mostly people serving under his administration and the group is said to be controlled by Uba Sani, the governor’s Political Adviser.
The ‘APC Akida’ made up of Dr. Hakeem Baba- Ahmed, Yero Makama, Sen Shehu Sani and Tom Mataikamki Maiyashi are against the way Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Elrufai is running his government.
The group is accusing the governor of side-lining them in the affairs of governance in the State and hijacking the structures of the party.
The interim leader of the group, Mr. Tom Mataimaki Maiyashi, had said that they will soon form structures in the state and in the Local Governments’ areas of Kaduna State.
The word ‘akida’ in the name of this faction is a Hausa word that means ‘our interest’
At a recent press conference, Maiyashi said that they formed the group because the APC led government in Kaduna State has failed their members.
In a swift reaction, the acting Publicity Secretary of the APC group loyal to governor Elrufai, Alhaji Salisu Tanko Wusono said that the Akida group should not be taken serious.
In a statement issued on Monday, Wusono said Nigerians should not take the Akida group serious adding that his groups responded to them so that the public can know that they are the people who have marginalized themselves by the delusion that the party must worship them.
The statement reads in part: “They have isolated themselves and demonstrated inability to be disciplined or to commit to wider interests beyond their ego. The APC and its leaders have every right to warn them to desist from puerile politics. Their leaders lost bids to become state chairman and governorship candidate. They were trounced by democratic means, and they know it. The same democratic instruments and the rules of the party is what they seek to undermine. Since 2014, they have been engaged in these irresponsible antics”.
