Fresh Crisis Hits Daura APC over LG Primaries

•  Party’s candidate detained by police
•  AG denies involvement

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Fresh crisis is rocking the Daura chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Katsina State following the arrest and detention of the party’s local government election standard-bearer, Shehu Audu, for allegedly obtaining money from some youths in the local government under false pretences.

Briefing journalists in Katsina on behalf of Audu’s supporters, Hon. Ibrahim Suleiman said Audu was declared winner of the February 9 APC local government primary in Daura but some chieftains of the party in the area were trying to impose another candidate against the decision of the electorate.

THISDAY had reported that the State Independent Electoral Commission has slated April 11, 2022 for the conduct of the local government elections in the state after six years of legal battle between the state government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state over the dissolution of elected council chairmen and councillors.

Suleiman particularly accused the state Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice, Ahmed El-Marzuq, of colluding with the party’s stalwarts in the local government to arrest and detain Audu because he won the party’s ticket ahead of the April 11 election.

He alleged that Audu was invited and arrested by the officials of the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) based on the directives of the state attorney-general because his anointed candidate, who was among the contestants, “failed woefully” during the primary.

According to him, “The people of Daura Local Government came out in large numbers and voted for Hon. Shehu Audu during the last APC local government primary, and he was declared the winner out of the three contestants.

“But some party members, particularly the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ahmad El-marzuq, conspired with some youths in the local government to write a false complaint against Hon. Audu that he collected money from them in order to secure appointments for them.

“It is not true because all the four youths involved have denied the allegation but still he was removed from detention at the CID office today (Wednesday) and taken to court, and we are discussing with our lawyers to see how we can follow the issue.

“It is unfortunate that this thing is happening in President Muhammadu Buhari’s local government. We are appealing to the party’s leaders, especially Governor Aminu Bello Masari to intervene in order to save the party.”

But when contacted, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, El-Marzuq, denied the allegations, describing them as false and calculated attempts by his enemies to tarnish his reputation.

He said the embattled APC candidate was arrested and detained by the police following a petition written to the state commissioner of police and copied to his office by some people in the local government accusing the candidate of obtaining money from them by false pretences.

According to him, “All the allegations are false. First of all, I don’t have any candidate. Let me come to the crop of the matter now, all the stakeholders know that Shehu Audu has been in the business of duping people in the local government.

“The people he duped in some villages in Daura wrote a petition to the state commissioner of police and copied to my office that he obtained money by false pretences from them ranging from N100,000, N50,000 and different kinds of amounts.”