From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The public altercation between the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Yusuf Ata, and the Kano State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Abbas, over Abbas’ alleged fourth-term agenda, has continued to rage in Kano.
While Ata is of the Barau Jibrin tendency, Abbas represents the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s tendency.
Speaking to the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Kano, Abbas insisted that the minister was never a member of the APC, expressing surprise that he was ever appointed a minister despite his not being a party member.
“For us in the party, he was never a party member. In the whole of Kano, in his local government, we came third,” he asserted.
“We didn’t even know when he was appointed as a minister. We even told the president that he was not our party member, that he engaged in anti-party activities,” Abbas said.
Abbas insisted that his personal ambition was to become the Governor of Kano State, and not to remain as the Chairman of the party as claimed by the Minister.
The minister had at the weekend accused Abbas of nursing a fourth-term ambition against the provisions of the party Constitution while threatening to defect with his supporters if Abbas is retained for an additional tenure.