Count Buhari out of Kano APC crisis -Presidency

By Lawrence Olaoye

The Presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari was in no way connected to the crisis rocking the Kano state branch of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senior Special Assistant to the President in media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday warned that the President should not be dragged into the murky politics of the state.
According to him, the President has demonstrated statesmanship at the highest level by not interfering in the selection of the leadership of the Senate even when he was under pressure to do so and as such will not condescend so low to meddle into local affairs of the APC in Kano state.
Shehu said the President was not in any guise involved in the removal of the erstwhile Kano APC chairman, Hon Umar Haruna Doguwa, as alleged by a political support group at a press conference in Kano, by a group named “Concerned Members of the APC in Kano State.”
He stated “Let me assure all our Party members and the general public alike at no time did the President involve himself in the internal conflict of any APC chapter in the country, and would never do so.
“President Buhari would not risk his integrity to support one side against the other in the affairs the APC or any other political party anywhere in the country.
“Anybody who knows the President’s principles would not believe any allegations linking Buhari to interference in the election or removal of party leaders across the country.
“In fact, it is an irony that President Buhari, who was accused in the past of not taking control of the National Assembly by imposing the President of the Senate and Speaker, two critical institutions in the running of our democracy will now be accused of abandoning those principles to order the removal of the chairman of the Kano APC party chapter.
“I am 100 percent convinced that this group, which is being associated with the respected senator representing Kano, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso did not seek his permission or clear their script with him before they dragged the name of the President into this matter. Governor Kwankwaso knows President Buhari too well to reduce him to this level.
“This group is hereby advised to stop belittling the person and office of the President by dragging his name into their local party quarrels. It is unfair to attack President Buhari over an issue he knew nothing about.”