Tinubu, Shekarau meet on APC’s crisis in Kano, other issues

Some details have emerged about Sunday evening’s meeting between former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Kano Sate governor, Ibrahim Shekarau.

The meeting, which held in Lagos, was called at Tinubu’s instance.

The overarching objective of the meeting was to enable Tinubu woo Shekarau to his side.

Prelude to that objective was the imperativeness of mending the cracks in the Kano APC to build a united front.

One of those who went with Shekarau to the meeting reportedly told Nigerian Sketch that “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent his aircraft to pick Shekarau in Abuja and return him after the meeting. Take note that the meeting’s main focus was to discuss the crack within the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kano State.

“The meeting lasted for three hours, and Tinubu got first information on the situation in Kano. He also shared some information with Sardauna (Shekarau).

“He assured Sardauna that he will do all he can to rectify the situation in Kano State.  The aircraft returned Sardauna to Abuja at 5pm,” the newspaper quoted the source to have said.

An aide to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje said the meeting did not in any way undermine or threaten the hold of the governor on the party in the state.

He said that “Tinubu was only mediating in Kano State’s APC crisis.”

The newspaper reported that “it was not immediately clear how Tinubu’s meeting with Shekarau would mend the broken fences between the warring parties in the Kano APC leadership crisis.

“First, parallel leadership elections were simultaneously  held by two factions led by the governor and Shekarau and two party chairmen emerged; Abdullahi Abbas and Ahmadu Haruna Danzago.

“Second, an FCT High Court on Tuesday nullified the election of Abbas who the governor backed and upheld that of  Danzago who Shekarau and others supported.

“Third, ever since the judgement was delivered, the state government has allegedly used state apparatus to attack the businesses, political offices and other interests of those who played roles in the emergence of Danzago as APC state chairman.

“The law office of Nureini Jimoh was locked by a government agency on the excuse that the owners of the property owe ground rent. The agency locked the office on Thursday, a day after the court handed down what the government considered to be an unpleasant judgement.

“Jimoh, a senior advocate of Nigeria, was the counsel on the side of the Shekarau faction.

“He was said to have fled the country after receiving death threats, and as a consequence, Shekarau, alongside Senator Barau Jibril and Sha’ban Sharada, a House of Representatives member, wrote to the inspector-general of police, seeking the police to investigate allegations of arson and threat to life by the state government.

“As it is, the government’s legal team is already busy working on the strategies to adopt in getting the judgment reversed.”

It further quoted a source to have said some of the options they were considering included an appeal and a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) alleging a misdeed against the judge that delivered the judgment.

Whether or not Tinubu can broker peace between the warring factions would be seen as events continue to unfold in the state.

In the meantime, a Kano Government House official has said that Ganduje has also been scheduled to see Tinubu in the next few days. (Nigerian Sketch)