Aviation Minister Counters Masari, Says He Isn’t Abuja-based Politician

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika yesterday countered the statement of Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari that he would not allow some Abuja-based politicians to dictate or control the party’s structure (APC) in the state.

Sirika, a senator of Katsina North on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), dismissed the statement of the governor, noting that he “is always with his people at the grassroots, developing villages and towns in Dutsi Local Government Area (LGA).”

He made this clarification at a session with journalists in Dutsi-Katsina yesterday during the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) local government congress in the area.

The Katsina governor had said he would not allow some people whom he termed Abuja-based politicians to dictate or control the APC structure in the state.

The governor, at the Government House during a stakeholder’s meeting ahead of the party’s congresses, had urged the Katsina politicians to go back to their respective wards and local government areas to seek power rather than sitting in Abuja.

He had, also, explained that the Katsina APC had been trying “to run an all-inclusive government and return true democracy at both wards, local government and state levels. The electorate should be allowed to decide who becomes their leader.”

At the session with journalists yesterday, Sirika dismissed the report that he was among the Abuja-based politicians the Katsina governor was talking about at the stakeholders’ meeting.

Sirika dismissed this allegation while addressing journalists in Dutsi-Katsina during the conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) local government congress in the area.

The minister said he was among those who established villages and towns in Dutsi Local Government Area (LGA) and has been catering for the humanitarian needs of the people in the area.

According to the minister, “I am not an Abuja-based politician. We are always with our people here. We are members of the royal family of this place (Dutsi). We established these villages and towns, we nurtured them.”

He, however, said consensus remains the best option for the ruling APC in electing its officials in the ongoing congresses across the country.

While applauding APC members in the state for adopting consensus for the congresses without acrimony, the minister described the ongoing exercise as peaceful and excellent.

He said: “I don’t know if there is anybody in his right mind that would not want a consensus. If today you are in a dispute in a court of law and you tell the court that you want to do a consensus the court will grant it.

“That is democracy, peaceful co-existence and good social interaction. Consensus shows that you are together, one people and you are able to agree. Consensus is the best option for APC and indeed any other political party in the country.”