Posted by By DESMOND MGBOH, Kano on
A major crisis has gripped the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Kano state as the party chairman, Senator El Jibrin Dogowa has queried the leader of the party, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to immediately respond to the allegation that about N750 million was disbursed by the party headquarters, through him, to the party in the state for which the leadership of the party was not in the picture.
A major crisis has gripped the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Kano state as the party chairman, Senator El Jibrin Dogowa has queried the leader of the party, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to immediately respond to the allegation that about N750 million was disbursed by the party headquarters, through him, to the party in the state for which the leadership of the party was not in the picture.
Both leaders of the party have been engaged in a bitter political confrontation over irreconcilable differences, ever since the president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had asked for the list of nominees for the ministerial and ambassadorial positions from the state to which each of them has an overt interest to exploit.
The letter, with reference number PDP/CM/AMD/01/170 and signed by the chairman, demanded that the former minister should state precisely what was received in the name of the party as campaign finances from the national campaign headquarters. It also asked questions as to what was generated during the party's fund raising dinner for the elections in the state and how the stated amount was expended.
The query also raised issues pertaining to how much was collected from the Kano-born multi-millionaire and business mogul , Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chief Bode George and the extra allocation Dr. Peter Odili, former governor of River State, all of which it alleged were channeled through the former minister to the party in the state.
The query also accused the former governor of raising a parallel structure, leadership and secretariat in the state, a move it alleged has been responsible for tearing the party apart, causing confusion and leading to the party's loss of focus during the polls.
The letter, which was copied to the National Chairman, the Zonal Vice Chairman and the secretary of the party suggested that a huge sum of party fund may have been misappropriated during the polls and therefore tasked Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso to respond to the issues raised within 72 hours of the receipt of the query.
Despite several efforts, Kwankwaso could not be reached for comment but as at Thursday evening, there were moves by those loyal to the former defence minister to suspend the chairman of the party, having earlier issued him a similar query, dated 4th June, 2007.