By Henry Umoru

ABUJA— CRISIS in the Kano State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP took a dramatic twist weekend as the leadership of the party was petitioned over the alleged handling of the party’s affairs by the former Kano State governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman led Unity Group of the party and other members of the group including Mohammed Abacha, former Minister, Musa Gwadabe, among others in the petition written to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo accused Kwankwaso of setting up a parallel political group which according to them has put the party’s chances of winning the forthcoming 2011 general elections in danger, just as they have urged the national leadership of the party to check the alleged excesses of the former governor.

According to the Kano State PDP, Unity Committee, Dr. Kwankwaso allegedly replaced the party’s structure in the state with his “Kwankwasiyya” movement named after him, adding that rather than follow the provisions of the party’s constitution, the state executive committee of the PDP led by Alhaji Farouk Iya is being tied to the apron string of the Kwankwasiyya group.

But in a swift reaction, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso who spoke to Journalists, however maintained that those behind the petition have misunderstood the situation, just as he stressed that Kano State PDP remained a family, adding, “there is no crisis in Kano PDP. We are all one family and we have been working together and by the grace of God, we will continue to work together. But if there is anybody who says there is crisis, we will ask him to prove it,”

The petition which was signed by Alhaji Muhammad Dauda Dangalan who doubles as chairman of the Kano State Unity Committee, alleged that the former governor who was also Minister of Defence was “coercing local government chairmen of the party to be at the national secretariat of the PDP to either make the national officers accept him as leader as against the National Planning Minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman.   

“Farouk Iya is stubbornly taking instructions from only one individual whose attitude towards the party is by all implications unconstitutional in the form of factionalizing the party and therefore conducting his political affairs on the platform of a structure called Kwankwasiyya,” the petition claimed.