It also took a swipe at a former vice president and APC chieftain, Atiku Abubakar, who recently claimed that he had been sidelined in party affairs.
The APC in a statement issued by its National Vice Chairman, North-west, Inuwa Abdulkadir, said it was not surprised by the statement noting that Mrs. Alhassan had never been a supporter of the president.
Mr. Abdulkadir’s statement aligns with that of the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who also said yesterday that Mrs. Alhassan had never supported the ‘Buhari ideology.’
Mr. Abdulkadir in his statement also warned leaders of the party, particularly, the former vice president to stop “misleading statements aimed at causing division within the party.”
Mr. Abubakar had ruffled some feathers when he recently said that the party and the Buhari administration had sidelined him in state affairs even though he deployed his resources to ensure that the party won the presidential polls in 2015.
Mrs. Alhassan, it would be recalled, had said that Mr. Buhari promised to serve for just one term during a political meeting before the 2015 polls.
“In 2014/2015 he said he was going to run for only one term to clean up the mess that the (previous) PDP government did in Nigeria. And I took him for his word that he is not contesting in 2019,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The minister, popularly called Mama Taraba, had also during the week stirred the hornets’ nest when ‘she said she would support the bid of Mr Abubakar for the presidency, in 2019 ‘even if Mr. Buhari decides to contest.’
But Mr. Abdulkadir, while addressing journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Friday, said the statement made by the former vice president could cause division in the ranks of the party and government.
He also demanded that Mrs. Alhassan quit the federal cabinet, “for pledging allegiance to Atiku.”
“By virtue of his office and his age, Atiku is qualified to be a statesman but when you reach that stature and age, there are certain things you have to come to terms with, which is to exhibit a high sense of decorum in your conduct. You have to guard what you say, how you say it and when you say it because what is expected of you as a statesman is nothing but factual.
“More importantly, there should be some decorum in what we do. People who have attained those high privileged positions should know that they have attained certain status in the society and cannot afford to talk anyhow.” Mr. Abdulkadir, who comes from the same North-west that produced the president, said that Atiku’s complaint is not true considering the level of his access to Mr. Buhari and the party.
He also disagreed with the former vice president’s charge that the ruling party had not been meeting as required, saying that there had been at least two major high-level meetings that had Mr. Abubakar and President Buhari in attendance.
Mr. Abdulkadir said the area “Atiku should be most concerned about is the success of the current APC-led administration.”
“The reason is that the North-west is the most populous zone in terms of the APC membership and in terms of electoral victory. That is apart from having seven APC state governors, and 20 out of the 21 senators in the zone are from the APC.”
He confirmed that Mr. Abubakar, like many others, “made certain contributions to the 2015 elections” but the picture which he “has given us is way bigger and not correct.”
He also said that in terms of electoral value, the North-west zone held eight presidential campaign rallies during the 2015 presidential election out of which Mr. Abubakar attended none.
“Of recent, Atiku made some statements that created an impression of the failure of the party and the President Buhari-led government. At that level, good party members, especially of his status, should not be seen to be making public statements even if those criticisms are factual, whereas in this case, some of these statements were misleading and incorrect.”
“These statements give an impression of a crack in the house and in the party or that the party is not doing all that which it ought to. As leaders, we shouldn’t be seen as joining issues in the public domain but since he has made a public statement, the public is entitled to get the other side or be told the truth.”
On Mr. Al-hassan’s outburst regarding the 2019 presidential election, he said the minister “should have respected her principal by not making her statement public.”
Mr. Abdulkadir said that the president will not act in a spontaneous manner, “rather, it should be the minister that will have to resign based on moral grounds.”
On the issue of Mr. Buhari’s alleged promise not to go for second term, he said: “Whether Buhari has said that he would re-contest or not is immaterial; what is material is that a serving Minister should not be seen making public statement suggesting that they are not on the same page with the team because she is a member of a team.”
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