The Senator representing Kano Central senatorial district, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, has cleared the air on why he took the eleventh hour decision to decamp from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
Speaking at a world press conference hours after he formerly announced his exit from the APC at his residence in Kano Wednesday, Shekarau said he simply exited from the party as a result of the blatant marginalisation and total neglect he had suffered in the hands of the leadership of the party at all levels.
He added that looking at his immense contributions to the progress of the party at the peak of its travails, he deserved to be treated with prestige, honour and decorum.
He pointed out that he had striven to ensure that the unity and oneness of the party remain sacrosanct in the face of some gruelling obstacles which had almost defied easy solution.
While regretting that where his opinion and elderly guidance were supposed to be sought, he was craftily pushed to the lower rung of the ladder.
He said, “As far as my exit is concerned, I have never single-handedly taken the decision to opt out knowing that I have established a consultative forum to guide my conduct in every decision I find it most expedient.
“The consultative forum itself has not single-handedly taken the decision to influence my exit from the APC, the decision reflects 80% of the opinion of our followers.
“My bone of contention is the cavalier manner I was made to suffer all sorts of victimisation since coming on board as a Senator representing Kano Central Senatorial District.
“In the last three and a half years, I was never called to a meeting by the leadership of the party in the state and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje himself know this. I have taken the decision to maintain my cool in a situation of this magnitude.”
“I was conversant of my indispensability as a prominent member of the APC and a two consecutive terms governor as well. I solely believed that my position, pedigree and enviable status should be respected. the leadership of the party and the administration of governor Ganduje have no justifiable premise to treat me shabbily ” he added.
“I also want to draw your attention that I have every reason to adduce that I have borne the brunt of non-inclusion in the affairs of the APC and the entire business of leadership and governance over the years under governor Ganduje, despite the fact that I have no axe to grind with him knowing that in partisan politics like ours, anything can happen,” he explained.
