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Tag: elrufai

  • APC has no role in our internal issues- NNPP to El’Rufai

    APC has no role in our internal issues- NNPP to El’Rufai

    The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP),  says allegations by former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El’Rufai that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) caused its crisis is false and condemnable.

    The party spoke on the backdrop of the recent allegations by El’Rufai, that the crises in PDP, Labour Party and NNPP were caused and fueled by the APC.

    The former Kaduna state governor had alleged that the APC was behind the internal crises rocking the opposition parties.

    In a viral video on X on Tuesday, El-Rufai claimed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was deliberately sponsoring disputes within these parties to weaken their leadership.

    In a statement in Lagos on Wednesday, NNPP’s National Chairman, Dr Agbo Major said the party was compelled to respond to El’Rufai because his utterances linking the NNPP challenges to the APC were misguided .

    “El’Rufai’s assertions were inaccurate information he may have gathered from enemies of NNPP’s internal democratic processes.”

    Major pointed out that the crisis in NNPP which had been resolved, was as a result of the inordinate ambition of some members in total disregard to agreements and party rules and regulations.

    ”The genesis of the crisis in NNPP erupted shortly after the 2023 general elections as a result of termination of a Memorandum of Understanding that struck a temporary union, between the NNPP, The National Movement (TNM) and the Kwankwassiya Movement.

    “The genesis and progress of the disagreement has been vigorously put there in the open, using all media platforms since 2023.

    “If the ordinary and uneducated Nigerians are familiar with the facts about the raging crisis,  then it’s disappointing for El’rufai to come to the open media to make such unguarded and unacceptable statement.

    “Nigerians are no longer to be deceived, El’rufai must know that the choice of who rules Nigeria come 2027 can never be determined by him.”

    The national chairman urged El’Rufai to stay away from NNPP issues, as the party is not an opposition to any other, including the APC..

    He said the subject matter in Nigeria should be welfare and wellbeing of all Nigerians through good governance, hard work, collaboration and observance of the rule of Law.

  • 2027: You’ll be voted out with Tinubu – Lukman criticizes Uba Sani for probing El-Rufai

    2027: You’ll be voted out with Tinubu – Lukman criticizes Uba Sani for probing El-Rufai

    Former North West National Vice President of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has slammed Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, saying his days in office will soon be numbered as he would be ousted along with President Bola Tinubu. in 2027.

    Lukman blamed Governor Sani for waging a war against his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, adding that he was waging a proxy war for the presidency.

    He warned the governor that the campaign to defeat the APC and President Tinubu has just begun and will take root in Kaduna State.

    In a letter titled “Policy and Governance Issues in Kaduna: The Truth”, dated June 13, 2024 and copied to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Ramalan Yero, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Mal. Bachelor of Laws, Hon. Garba Datti, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, Alh. Yusuf Mairago, Alh. Lawal Samaila Yakawad, Alh. Bashir Abubakar Alhaji and Mal. Mohammed Sani Dattijo, Lukman, said Governor Uba Sani was setting a precedent that would eventually harm him.

    He said; “Honestly, I’m worried about you. You are setting a precedent that will hurt you. All I can say is be careful. Maximum, in the next 7 years you will be out. You must admit that without Mallam, it would have been almost impossible for you to get to where you are today.

    ”’The privilege of being Governor has an expiration date. In your case, if you’re lucky, another seven years. But the way things are developing, I think the default expiration date for his term is another three years. Both you and President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu have sent worrying signals that you are anything but democrats.

    “Unfortunately, both President Asiwaju Tinubu and you have distanced yourself and are behaving like autocrats and if left unchecked, whatever has been achieved under this democracy in the last 25 years will be destroyed. When he invited a few of us to a meeting about two months ago, he hoped he had created the identifier to help correct that. Unfortunately, he was reduced to a photo opportunity and the next thing I heard was that there were people among the group members who were threatened by the presence of some people and had exploited their closeness to you to demobilize the group.

    “Consequently, from a situation in which the group had to meet again after two weeks, no meeting has been contemplated for more than months. This is consistent with APC tradition. APC is practically the only political party in the world that exists without holding meetings and the leaders are comfortable with that. This is certainly not the democracy we fight for. Although he claimed to be among those who fought for democracy, I am not sure from the way he is handling things that he can justify his contributions to the fight for democracy in Nigeria.

    “Mallam Uba, like I said, I speak to you like an elder brother. The way I have been treated over the last year has pushed me to review whether I want to continue living with the frustration of watching our hard-earned work go down the drain. I lived my entire life campaigning for a better society. I am determined that our current reality does not project the type of society we want.

    “Therefore, I have decided to return to the trenches and resume mobilization for change. Unless APC and you, our leaders, accept change and return to some level of sanity, this will require us to mobilize and remove you from power in 2027 at all levels.

    “I wish I could do without you. But since politics is ultimately local, even if you agree to reforms but President Asiwaju Tinubu did not accept them, you will suffer collateral damage. Believe me, the campaign to defeat the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu is just beginning and will take root in Kaduna State!

  • Why Tinubu should not offer political appointment to El-Rufai- Kaduna APC forum

    Why Tinubu should not offer political appointment to El-Rufai- Kaduna APC forum

    Kaduna State All Progressives Forum, has urged the President, Bola Tinubu not to appoint Ex-governor of the State, Nasir El-Rufai into political office.

    The political group which was established in 2014 as a wing of All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the former governor was responsible for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning the presidential election in Kaduna State.

    A statement jointly signed on Tuesday in Abuja, by the National Coordinator, Abdullahi Garba, General Secretary, Mohammed Zaria and two others, described El-Rufai as a religious bigot.

    “We are members of the All Progressives Congress operating under the aegis of Kaduna Progressives Forum and having been in existence since 2014.

    “Our activities and loyalty to the party have been unalloyed, despite some leadership failures we have experienced in the past eight years of Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai as governor.

    “Having the future of Kaduna State and APC in mind, we are compelled to draw the attention of His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to some salient issues which he must take into consideration in assembling his cabinet and to see reasons, El-Rufai shouldn’t be given any political appointment.

    “The Presidential election which held on February 25, 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP won in Kaduna State and the reason could be traced to El-Rufai’s anti-people policies in the State, particularly in his second tenure.

    “He crudely demolished houses, markets without compensation and retrenched teachers and civil servants against the advice of elder statesmen in the party, particularly as he was not seeking elective office after his second tenure.

    “The development put the party at variance with the wishes of Kaduna people, hence, their rejection of APC at the polls.

    He reminded President Tinubu of El-Rufai’s pending unaccounted N32 billion sales of FG houses during his tenure as FCT Minister, saying he should be made to face the wrath of law.

    “El-Rufai is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over N32 billion sales of Federal Government Houses when he was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in the former President Olusegun Obasanjo government.

    “The Civil Society Organisations and Transparency and Accountability groups have been urging the Federal Government to expedite prosecution of the former governor, given that he could not account for the money, apart from Court injunctions restraining the EFCC from investigating and prosecuting him.

    “Recall that in 2019, Malam El-Rufai threatened foreigners that if they come to Nigeria and interfere in the general election, they would return to their country in “body bags”, an outburst that was condemnable across the world.

    “Malam Nasir El-Rufai is clearly a religious bigot. This could be best explained by the Southern Kaduna people who are predominantly Christians on how they were maltreated in the last eight years.

    “Apart from the Muslim-Muslim governorship ticket, where he never allowed Christian to deputize him, he forced a Muslim woman on his successor and the development has pitched against the party.

    “He created chiefdoms in Christian dominated south and appointed traditional rulers of Muslim religion, thereby promoting hate and malice among the communities.”

    Your Excellency, you have proven your mettle of distaste for injustice and corruption and we plead that Malam Nasir El-Rufai should not be offered a slot of appointment representing Kaduna State.”

  • Middle Belt Forum urges DSS to invite El-Rufai over ‘divisive comments’

    Middle Belt Forum urges DSS to invite El-Rufai over ‘divisive comments’

    A group under the aegis of Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has called on the Department of State Services (DSS), to invite the Ex-Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, over his comments widely criticised for being divisive.

    The forum, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Isuwa Dogo, on Sunday, condemned the former governor over his controversial comments on the role of religion in the 2023 governorship election in Kaduna.

    In a nearly six-minute video which trended on social media, El-Rufai could be seen meeting with Islamic clerics ahead of his exit from the office, justifying his choice of Muslims occupying top positions in the Kaduna State Government as against Christians.

    He claimed that the Muslims overwhelmingly voted for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the last election.

    The comments prompted outrage from several quarters including the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accusing El-Rufai of dividing the people of Kaduna along fault lines during his eight-year tenure as governor.

    In a similar vein, the MBF noted that at the meeting which was conducted on the eve of his departure as governor, El-Rufai addressed “the preachers on how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in the state that was later successfully replicated at the Federal level.”

    The statement reads:
    “The attention of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has been drawn to the condemnation of the provocative pronouncements by the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, while addressing a select group of Islamic clerics after the conclusion of the highly disputed presidential and governorship polls. In the meeting with Islamic clerics that was conducted on the eve of his departure as Kaduna State Governor, el-Rufai told the preachers on how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in the state that was later successfully replicated at the Federal level.

    “The former governor recalled that he, with others, was determined to ensure the Muslim-Muslim ticket was sustained for another 20 years to ensure Christians come to terms with the indispensability of the same-faith ticket as a panacea for peace in both the State and the Federal level. What he never told his selected preachers was that the state he ruled and ruined for eight years was turned into Nigeria’s headquarters of kidnappings and human barbarities that led to the murder of tens of thousands of people and decimation of over 100 communities under his watch.

    “The MBF, as the socio-cultural organisation for ethnic nationalities that are mostly Christians of the Middle Belt Region, is outraged by the deceitful attempts by el-Rufai and his nebulous co-travellers to push our nation down the slippery slope of religious tension and bigotry.

    “The outrage over the el-Rufai video clip demonstrates the level of disappointment by Nigerians over the former governor’s outburst that was aimed at inflaming religious conflagration in order to destabilise the Nigerian State.

    “The unfortunate comments by this bigot, who is erroneously thought of as a nationalist and public intellectual, portray him as a divisive leader who not only thrives in creating chaos, but also reveal him as an irredeemable religious extremist whose antecedents as governor showcases him as a treacherous enemy of Nigeria that must be barred from the corridor of power.

    “Even before now, the Forum has never been deceived by the pretentiousness of the former governor whose stock in trade is divisiveness hidden under the thin covering of a public intellectualism and patriotism.

    Dogo noted that video clip exposes El-rufai as the most contemptible and appalling divider-in-chief.

    ” His hypocrisy and innermost desire to work against the secularity of the Nigerian State have left many to ask: What is this little man, who has benefitted greatly from Nigeria, trying to achieve? If there has been any doubt of his complicity and dubiousness in the promotion of heightened political and religious tension in Nigeria; his meeting with selected members of Muslim clerics leaves no one in doubt that he is the most dangerous politician in the country today.

    The Forum calls on the Nigerian security agencies not only to place the former governor under its radar, but he should be invited by the secret police for a chat.

     

  • Tinubu dodged a poisonous knife – Shehu Sani mocks El-Rufai over chief of staff, SGF slots

    Tinubu dodged a poisonous knife – Shehu Sani mocks El-Rufai over chief of staff, SGF slots

    A former senator who represented Kaduna Central at the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, has  mocked the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai for missing out in the recent appointments made by President Bola Tinubu.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Tinubu appointed a former Governor of Benue State, George Akume as Secretary to the Government of the Federation while the outgoing Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila was appointed as Chief of Staff.

    Before Akume and Gbajabiamila were appointed, there were rumours in various quarters that the former Kaduna State governor would get one of the positions considering his closeness to the President during electioneering.

    Reacting to the development, Sani, who was apparently referring to comments credited to El-Rufai on Islamisation agenda, said Tinubu had “dodged a poisonous knife” by scheming the former governor out of the two positions he described as “critical”.

    “If Tinubu had appointed ‘Mr Over Sabi’ as SGF or Chief of Staff, he would have sown the seed of discord between the President and the Vice President, speak and move around as more important than the two. Tinubu has dodged a poisonous knife,” Sani said in a tweet on Wednesday afternoon.

    El-Rufai was alleged in a trending video on social media to have said that the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the Kaduna governorship election would be sustained beyond 20 years in the state.

  • We don’t discharge, harm patients during union action – NANNM

    We don’t discharge, harm patients during union action – NANNM

    The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives said allegations by governor Nasir El-rufai that it’s members at the Barau Dikko specialist hospital Kaduna absconded from duty is false and misleading.

     

    NANNM’s national chairman, Ishaku Yakubu disclosed this in a press statement on Friday. Yakubu also stated that none of it’s members at the Barau Dikko specialist hospital removed oxygen from a two-day old baby as the governor also alleged.

     

    He said “… the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) is an affiliate of NLC, and as such the Kaduna State Council is actively participating in the ongoing strike action as directed by her national body.”

     

    “No member of NANNM in Kaduna state has ever either in the past or present discharged any patient during any union action and even in the present allegation of discharge of patients in Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital (BDTH), the nurses did not discharge any patient. The patients left on their own considering the fact that services were withdrawn.”

     

    “…the accusation of our members removing oxygen from a Two-day old baby is unfounded and misleading to the public. The investigations carried out by the union have revealed how the nurse on duty helped to plead with the generator plant technician to allow the light in the hospital as a patient was on oxygen and to allow for the transfer of the same patient in the morning as the strike was to start midnight of 15th May 2021. Contrary to the allegations and false statements the nurse went extra miles to ensure the safety of the child and other patients, as it is known of nurses.

     

    The investigations carried out by the association also revealed that the baby is alive and doing well in one of the private facilities in Kaduna town. Videos of the interview with the mother of the baby and of the private hospital is available and will be made available to the media. The union shall take a decisive action against the perpetrators of this malicious and incisive allegations.

     

    The association wish to tell Nigerians that image of the nurse has been battered and these allegations are aimed at further discrediting and tarnishing the image and reputation of the nurses and the nursing profession, this is rather unfortunate and we wish to call on everyone to disregard this malicious and unfounded allegations.

     

    That the mass sack of nurses in Kaduna state from level 14 below is aimed at dividing the nurses and playing the “divide and rule” game. All nurses are part of this action as well as other health professionals, why single out nurses if not an attempt to divide the unity we share. More so, this is to strike fear among nurses to have them resume work knowing fully well that we constitute the majority of the work force in the health sector. This attempt will fail as we are together and not moved by these threats. As far as NANNM is concerned, no nurse has been sacked in Kaduna state as the rules of disengagement has not been followed which is part of the reasons for this industrial action.

     

    We call on the Kaduna state government to conserve the energy they are using now to fight nurses and use same to secure the release of two of our nurses are in the hands of kidnappers for the past 30 days. They were taken at their duty post as government workers and the kidnappers are making huge demand as ransom.

     

     

    The association want to assure the citizens of the state that we are committed to the provision of health care services to the public and to ensure they get the best but when the work force is unfairly treated then the best cannot be achieved. We solicit for their prayers and understanding during this period, the almighty will help us all….”

  • Restructuring: APC deceiving Nigerians again, says ADP

    The Action Democratic Party has dismissed the report of the All Progressives Congress Committee on true federalism as another attempt to hoodwink Nigerians.

    The National Chairman of the ADP, Mr. Yabagi Sani, said this in an interview in Abuja on Sunday.

    He alleged that the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led APC panel was simply pursuing a new phase of the ruling party’s political gimmick.

    Sani claimed it had become clear to all that the Nigerian public had become better informed about the lacklustre performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration.

    The ADP national chairman urged Nigerians to be wary of the APC’s plot to repeat the deceit which propelled it into office in 2015.

    Sani said, “They (the APC) rode on the back of great promises in 2015 without clearly fulfilling any till date. Now, as we enter another election year; they are coming up with recommendations for restructuring which many of their party leaders strongly condemn and oppose.”

    He noted that the ruling party was aware that it no longer enjoyed the luxury of time as such, it had become desperate in its bid to avoid the inescapable verdict of the Nigerian people come 2019.

    He maintained that the content of the report could not deflect attention from the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s open letter which chronicled the failings of the APC-led administration.

    But in response, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the opposition ADP’s National chairman had a right to his opinion.

    “They are free to say what they want to say. We are the ones who promised restructuring in our manifesto and we are working towards it,” he said.

  • Exam failure: Teachers union commence 3-day fasting, prayer over planned sack of 20,000 in Kaduna

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers, Zaria Local Government Area Branch will on Tuesday begin three days of fasting and prayers over the planned sack of 20,000 primary school teachers.

    68 per cent of the teachers had failed an examination conducted by the Kaduna State Government. The teachers failed to pass the primary four pupils’ exam at excellent level.

    NUT Chairman in Zaria Local Government Area, Malam Yahaya Abbas, said on Monday that the teachers were compelled to seek God’s intervention over the planned sack.

    Abbas said, “Majority of our members here are Muslims and we do not have anywhere to lodge our complaint except to our creator.

    “Therefore, we intend to start a three-day fasting on Oct. 17, in addition to prayers, to seek God’s intervention on the planned mass sack of our members whom government said did not pass its examination.

    “There is no way for everybody to score “A” grade in an examination; that is 75 per cent, this is not what was agreed with the union representatives.

    “The agreement was that the pass mark should be 60 per cent not 75 per cent. Again, the result of the examination is not yet out but the government said it will sack 20,000 teachers.”

    He said that the government still owed some teachers salary arrears of between three months and 13 months, while some of them were being underpaid.

    “I can assure you that there is one female teacher who teaches 200 pupils in a class due to the shortage of teaching staff.

    “Again, sacking of experienced teachers and recruiting new ones is not the solution because anybody who bagged a National Certificate in Education or degree in the last 10 years must have been taught by these categories of teachers.

    “Therefore, if the government argued that the present calibre of teachers are not qualified, then, how do you expect their products to be better than the teachers?”, he asked.

  • El-rufai denies aide’s comment that he won’t contest in 2019

    El-rufai denies aide’s comment that he won’t contest in 2019

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied comment by his chief of staff, that he would not run for a second term.

    This is contained in a statement he personally signed on Sunday.

    The governor said he would not announce his next political move through anyone and vowed to fire appointees caught politicking instead of concentrating on their jobs.

    El-Rufai also directed the signage agency in his state to pull down all billboards bearing campaign messages, in violation of election laws and guidelines.

    Full statement titled ‘I will inform the public on second term when I am ready’ reads:

    “My attention has been drawn to statements credited to our Chief of Staff which clearly misrepresented his good intentions aimed at encouraging youths in politics and governance of our dear state.

    “What was reported was that I had no plans to run for another term of office, and will be succeeded by someone below the age of 50. Both statements are misrepresentations of my position and the government. It has become imperative that these wrong impressions thereby created be corrected.

    “In 2014, when I complied with the directive of our leader President Muhammadu Buhari to run for the office of Governor of Kaduna State, I made the announcement in person. I did not employ surrogates to engage the public on this important decision.
    “What I did not do as an aspirant for office, I will not do as incumbent Governor. I will not communicate my decision to run for a second term in 2019 through surrogates, but directly to the people of Kaduna State.

    “Regarding the views ascribed to the Chief of Staff, they are perhaps his personal opinion. I do not wish to be associated with such sentiments. I am of the firm opinion that nobody, no matter the position they hold, can dictate to other citizens what they can or cannot aspire to.

    “No individual can introduce into the electoral process conditions that are not embedded in the laws of our country and the norms of electoral competition.

    “The Constitution of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and the APC constitution have no provisions imposing maximum age limits for those aspiring to elective office. I am a strict law-abiding citizen and loyal party member, and will not countenance anyone even hinting at circumscribing constitutional rights.

    “While our administration believes strongly in encouraging youths, evidenced by the number of young people we have appointed into key government positions, we believe that it is the combination of the wisdom of the elderly and the energy of the youth that leads to societal progress”.

  • ‘Defend yourselves against Buhari/El-rufai’s sponsored killings’, Dokubo-Asari tells Southern Kaduna

    The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, yesterday condemned the killing of Christians by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna.

    Asari called on the people to defend themselves and balance the terror foisted on them by persons alleged to be agents of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Ahmed Nasir El Rufai.

    Dokubo-Asari in a statement by his spokesperson, Rex Anighoro, tagged: “Buhari is a Futa Jallon Jihadist”, called on all minorities to support the people of Southern Kaduna.

    He said, “The Muhammadu Buhari and El Rufai-enabled ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna is a supremacist and neo-colonialist conquest on the minorities of Northern Nigeria and by extension on all minorities in Nigeria.

    “Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and the Niger Delta People Salvation Front cum Niger Delta People Volunteer Force call all people of Southern Kaduna to defend themselves and balance the terror foisted on them by Buhari and El Rufai’s agents.

    “We call on all minorities in the North and across the Nigerian union to mobilise support for the people of Southern Kaduna earmarked for extermination by the Gambari and Futa Jallon expansionists.

    “Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and the Niger Delta People Salvation Front cum Niger Delta People Volunteer Force stand with the people of Southern Kaduna.”