…As Thugs Attack Journalists During Press Conference
By Amos Tauna
Crises crippling the unity of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria on Sunday deepens as APC Senators and House of Representatives members from the state, alongside other members of the party, under the auspices of APC-Akida group, kicked against recent election of the party congress delegates.
The APC-Akida faction is opposed to the leadership style of Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, whom they call a “tyrant”.
Thugs allegedly sponsored to disrupt the APC-Akida’s press conference to air their grievances during the delegates election injured a journalist and destroyed property at the Kaduna NUJ Secretariat, venue of the Akida’s press conference.
Addressing newsmen shortly before the attack at the NUJ secretariat, Spokesman of APC Akida, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, representing Kaduna North Senatorial zone, condemned the alleged purpoted party delegates election, saying, they were at the state party secretariat last Friday from 2:30pm waiting for the party leadership and observers from the national headquarters to conduct the delegate conference till 7:30pm nobody showed up.
Hunkuyi was flanked by Senator Shehu Sani, former APC gubernatorial aspirants, Isah Ashiru and Haruna Saeed Kajuru; servings Reps, Hassan Shekarau, Mohammed Usman, Musa Soba, Tijjani Ramallan, Audi Yaro Makama and Ambassador Sule Buba, among others.
APC Akida said it has written petition to the national leadership of the party rejecting what it called ‘selection of delegates’ for the convention and requesting the party to come and organise an acceptable delegates congress following the guidelines that would yield acceptable delegates from the state.
According to him, “The local government delegate election was scheduled for the party secretariat on Friday by 2:30pm to elect three delegates per local government to represent the local government as ad-hoc delegates at the APC national convention.
“We were there at the party secretariat until 7:30pm when we left but the acting Chairman, party leadership and national observers did not show up. All efforts to convince the leadership of the party to hold this congress failed instead somebody in the name of political adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Alhaji Uba Sani gathered people together and confronted them with the list of delegates appointed for the convention.
“Our unanimous stand is that we are all products of election or those who wish to seek for one post or another, so why won’t we submit ourselves to the same people who elected us.
“We have written two petitions, one is addressed to the national chairman copying other leaders of the party stating that the process has been breached so they should fix another day to come and conduct the delegate election. We have also written to the national working committee to appeal that the election be conducted in line with the electoral guidelines,” Hunkuyi said.
Also speaking, Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central Senatorial zone, said the symptoms being shown by APC in Kaduna state is what killed PDP in 2015.
“In no way should anybody accept any list concocted in the Government House palace. We won’t bow down to any tyrant. A list was prepared and sent to Abuja, we would not accept it,” he explained.
On the thugs attack, political thugs had before the arrival of the APC-Akida group stormed the NUJ premises chanting that, they won’t allow the press conference hold.
However, despite the presence of about 30 armed policemen, few of the thugs made their way in, almost towards the end of the press conference and unleashed mayhem on journalists and left a cameraman from Liberty TV injured, while some cameras were destroyed and phones, tape recorders and other valuables were carted away.
But Gov. Nasir El-Rufai in a statement condemned the thugs attack on journalists, saying nobody would be allowed to stifle freedom of expression.
El-Rufai in a message to the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, through his media aide, Samuel Aruwan, said, “Having been briefed on the situation, the governor expressed sympathy with the NUJ and the persons that were harassed by the hoodlums.
The Governor directed that the security agencies should investigate and take necessary action against the hoodlums.
The Governor also directed security agencies to beef up security at the NUJ secretariat to protect journalists doing their duty.
“The media must not be hindered from carrying out their constitutional and professional obligations. The government of Kaduna State upholds the principles of free speech and respects the freedom of expression. Politics should not be a desperate game. And desperation should not be visited on journalists or any citizen,” El-Rufai said.
The attack on journalists is a reflection of the several attempts to muzzle freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Kaduna state. Many journalists have been kept in custody and are currently facing trials, as a result of journalism work in the state – in an attempt to silence them.
