A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, popularly called APC Akida, has tackled Governor Nasir El-Rufai on his controversial memo to President Muhammad Buhari.

Mataimaki Tom Maiyashi, Chairman of the APC Akida, while addressing a press conference on Sunday in Kaduna, on the lingering crisis in the party, described the memo written by El-Rufai as “total disrespect, discourteous and shocking.”

He wondered why El-Rufai who refused to cooperate with the resolution of Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari-led reconciliation committee set up by the APC national body.

“He (Mr. El-Rufai) said we should go to Kufena Hill and jump; and called us ants that he will use his iron boots to crush, when we made efforts to seek audience and interface on his actions in the state.

“This is distasteful, arrogance and disrespectful not only to the President but to Nigerians, people of Kaduna State and our great party,” he said.

The Chairman said the Governor did not seek anybody’s advice and that the memo to President Buhari is not the position of the people of Kaduna State who gave him the mandate to govern them.

He said a leper cannot write a memo to a sane person, adding that, their faction will continue to support the President’s development agenda.

While responding to questions on assessment of the Governors performance and infrastructural development in the state, Maiyashi said: “El-Rufai is not holy, he is full of sins,” and wondered if digging gutters and pilling roads is mark of a development.

“He (El-Rufai) has not performed, despite possession of resources like the Paris Club refund. He is the list person to correct the President,” the chairman said.

Maiyashi also debunked news that the aggrieved faction of APC is planning to form another party, assuring that, “the crisis in the party will be resolved and no new party will be formed.”

He called on the executive arm of government and the National Assembly to maintain a cordial relationship towards nation building, as the party goes mid-term into the life of the Buhari administration.

“Let them face critical challenges of recession and to ensure a turn-around of economy for the interest of the country,” he said.

He called on the party leaders to save the party’s image which according to him, "has been portrayed in bad light as the 2019 elections approach.

Shehu Sani, Senator representing Kaduna Central, Isah Ashiru, APC governorship aspirant who lost to El-Rufai, Yaro Makama, former state Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Sule Buba, Isah Gote, Murtala Abubakar, Suleiman Ahmed, Jibrin Ahmed, Hauwa Baba Ahmed were among those present at the press conference.

Hakeem Baba Ahmed, one of the founding members of APC Akida and the new Chief of Staff to Senate President, Bukola Saraki was, however, absent at the Press Conference.

Sources within the faction however, said Ahmed is still with the faction and has sent in his apology.

“Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed is among our founding members and is fully in support of this press conference,” the source said when this reporter sought to know if his new appointment has made him to withdraw from the faction.

In the September 2016 memo published last week, El-Rufai told President Buhari that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which APC started the change campaign.

The Governor told the president how bad the nation was faring under his watch, and how the president’s policies, actions and in-actions have contributed to the nation’s woes and what could be done to steer Nigeria back to greatness.

In the 30-page memo, El-Rufai touched several areas, ranging from the ailing economy, to the dynamics of the nation’s politics, lack of cohesion within APC, and the poor relationship between the president and the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, and other party leaders, including APC governors.

•Photo by Garba Ahmed shows Mataimaki Tom Maiyashi, chairman of Kaduna factional APC Akida (m) and other members of the faction at a press conference on Sunday in Kaduna, on Governor Nasir El-Rufai's memo to President Buhari.

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