Kaduna denies Buhari access to rally venue – APC

The All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State on Tuesday said the Kaduna State government denied the party’s presidential candidate, Maj. Gen Muhammmadu Buhari (retd.), access to the Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna, for his North-West zonal rally ahead of the rescheduled March 28 and April 11 general elections.

Our correspondent learnt that preparation for the rally, which is expected hold today (Wednesday), had reached an advanced stage when the zonal office of the party was informed that the state had refused the party the permit to use the facility.

“The PDP is jittery already. They are simply afraid of the popularity strength of the APC in the state and indeed the northern part of the state,” a party official, who asked not to be named, said.

The spokesman for Governor Mukhtar Yero, Malam Ahmed Mayaki neither picked calls to his mobile nor respond to a text message sent to his phone on the development.

Meanwhile, the APC in the state has accused the Yero-led administration of preparing the ground for crisis ahead of the elections in the state.

Spokesman of the APC Campaign Council in the state, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, at a media briefing said those championing hatred and disaffection in the state were those in government.

He noted that the government was not interested in ensuring peace and that it had been paying lip service to the issue of peace in the state.

Aruwan said the Kaduna State government had engaged in promoting violence in the state.

He said, “As a movement of the people, the APC is resolutely committed to free, fair and credible elections, held in an atmosphere of peace.

“The PDP government of Kaduna State is actively stoking religious and ethnic tension. Along with its affiliates and supporters, the PDP has been trying to whip up religious resentments against General Muhammadu Buhari and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (the APC governorship candidate)”