Governor El-Rufai under fire for demolishing APC factional secretariat in Kaduna

The dust raised by the demolition of Senator Hunkuyi building housing the APC faction in Kaduna State is yet to settle.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai is under fire for his intolerance against perceived enemies.
Senator Hunkuyi has dismissed the reasons cited by the Kaduna State Government for demolishing the building.
He said, “If what is being released now is anything to go by, shouldn’t there be a contravention order? Shouldn’t there be service for us to quit activity as a party office? Shouldn’t there be other steps rather than jumping into what they did? I don’t think there is the need to say anything to justify that activity of bringing the bulldozers led by his personal self (governor). I don’t need anybody to comfort me on that.

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“The first question is: what would the military be doing at a site at odd hours of 4am, in a property that is private to someone, housing a public institution, leading your own party, no matter the dispute?”
The lawmaker described the demolition as “one of those bizarre, rare and unimaginable” decisions of the governor.
But the 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, denied any involvement in the demolition.
Meanwhile, the Senate at the plenary on Tuesday urged el-Rufai to compensate Hunkuyi for demolishing his building.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly specifically asked el-Rufai to rebuild the structure.
The resolution followed a point of order raised on the floor by the lawmaker representing the Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, who formally reported the demolition to the Senate and castigated the governor for playing politics of bitterness.

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He said, “This comes a year after the same governor demolished the residence of Alhaji Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, the National Vice-Chairman (North-West) of the APC. This is a series of arbitrariness and of tyranny perpetuated by the governor against dissenting, opposition voices in the state.”
The senator warned that such acts would send a message to people within and outside the state to remain silent on issues bothering them.
Sani said, “I will say very clearly here that in the last two and a half years, we have been faced with tyranny in our state. My constituency office was attacked by violent thugs more than 11 times and it has also been very clear that armed military and policemen have been consistently used by the governor to intimidate and harass people who don’t agree with him.

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“It is of concern that after about 20 years of military rule, a man with such a rabid ambition and arrogance of power can appropriate to himself power to act outside the law. How can a democratically elected governor demolish a house without notice simply for the fact that we have set up an office different from the one he has personalised for himself as a so-called party man?”
The lawmaker called on Buhari to caution his “beloved son who has unleashed a reign of terror and has behaved in the most despicable and irresponsible way.”
In his ruling, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, described the demolition as condemnable, while extending his sympathy to Hunkuyi “on the destruction of your house.”
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, accused the APC government of intolerance, saying some of its governors have started demolishing property belonging to opposition members and perceived opponents of their 2019 re-election bid.

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For example, he said el-Rufai on Tuesday, detailed bulldozers and armoured tanks to demolish a property belonging to Hunkuyi perceived to be against his 2019 re-election bid.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Wahab Shittu, said the governor’s action had no justification in democracy, describing it as condemnable.
Shittu said, “Except the facts are disputed, it’s difficult to sustain the action on the basis of compliance with democratic terms and this is condemnable. I will say no more until I get further facts.”
The Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, described el-Rufai’s action as unwarranted, adding that it smacks of malice.
Adeniran said, “It is unwarranted; the governor could have found other means of seeking redress rather than the pulling down of their building. It smacks of malice; it is a malicious kind of exercise, which should not have been done that way.”

www.sojworld.com © February 22, 2018