El-Rufai Moves Against Hunkuyi, Demolishes APC Factional Office

In what may be described as war of attrition blowing across the two factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna state in the early hours of Tuesday demolished the office of the APC faction that suspended him, with some of his top aides.

The demolition, according to sources, was carried out under the supervision of armed security personnel and other overzealous party members. The team, which pulled down the building located at 11B, Sambo road, GRA Kaduna, was said to have arrived at the place around 4am on Tuesday.

The faction known as Kaduna Restoration Group is led by Suleiman Othman Hukunyi, the senator representing Kaduna north central.

An aide of Hukunyi, simply identified as Abdulraham, said soldiers blocked both entrances to the building, while the exercise was going on.

“The bulldozer was accompanied by armed soldiers who blocked both sides of the road leading to the building,” he said.

Some loyalists of Hunkuyi have accused el-Rufai of masterminding the act but the governor is yet to respond to such accusation. Samuel Aruwan, his spokesman, did not reply a text message.

The demolition of the APC factional office, according to a source at the Kaduna State Urban and Property Development Agency (KASUPDA), the demolition of the property was hinged on the fact that the structure in question is a residential building and not a political office.

According to the source, “The property was allocated for residential purposes and not for political activities. That explained why the building was pulled down.”

The demolition of the property may not be unconnected to the crisis in the Kaduna chapter of the APC that commenced in 2015, and hitting its zenith on Thursday when the Hukunyi-led group issued a query to the state governor and suspended three of his aides. El-Rufai had dismissed the query, but the group gave him 48 hours to respond to allegations of anti-party activities levelled against him.

In a swift reaction, the APC faction loyal to el-Rufai suspended Hunkuyi and 28 members of his group. However, such pre-emptive move by el-Rufai did not stop the anti-el-Rufai group from suspending the governor for six months.

Another faction loyal to the governor overruled the suspension, describing it as laughable.

There are three APC factions in Kaduna: “government house faction”, “APC -Akida” led by Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, and the Kaduna Restoration Group.

The crisis is coming at a time President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Bola Tinubu, national leader of the party, to reconcile aggrieved individuals in the APC.