TheCable

The campaign council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna has criticised Suleiman Hunkuyi over his recent comment against Nasir el-Rufai, governor of the state.

Hunkuyi, a former APC chieftain and now governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), reportedly said he regretted supporting el-Rufai and President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2015 elections.

Hunkuyi reportedly spoke on Monday at an interactive session with representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kaduna.

Reacting in a statement on Tuesday by Ibraheem Musa, the director of strategic communication for the campaign, the Kaduna APC accused Hunkuyi of “repeated falsehood”.

“Alhaji Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi is a nomadic politician and his political trajectory is replete with defections, betrayals and biting the fingers that feed him,” the statement reads.

“As commissioner of finance from 1999 to 2003, he was Governor Ahmed Makarfi’s confidant but he dumped his benefactor and crossed over to the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and contested against his boss. Hunkuyi failed woefully at the polls.

“Afterwards, he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) during the Arch Mohammed Namadi Sambo administration. In 2011, Hunkuyi contested against Governor Patrick Yakowa in the primaries. Again, he lost.

“The self acclaimed godfather who never won an election since he became chairman of Makarfi local government area during the Babangida regime, however, rode on the Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s popularity to be elected senator in 2015. However, instead of working for the people of Kaduna State, Hunkuyi and his cohort worked against them in the Senate.

“Specifically, Kaduna state government sought for $350 million World Bank loan to bridge its infrastructure deficit but Hunkuyi told the senate that ‘the loan is a misplaced priority’.

“As a payback, the people of Kaduna North senatorial district voted against Hunkuyi in 2019 for short-changing them.

“Before then, the footloose politician had defected back to the PDP and right now he is the gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party(NNPP).

“In recent times, Hunkuyi has been granting interviews in the media and emitting the usual hot air and false claim of having made Malam Nasir El Rufai the Governor of Kaduna State in 2015. He repeated this fallacy at an  interactive session with representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

“Distinguished Senator Uba Sani, the APC Gubernatorial candidate of Kaduna State, will not only defeat Hunkuyi as Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari did in 2019, but will nail his final political coffin in the 2023 governorship election.”