Arewa House: Altakry’s Visit to Sheikh Gumi, might have Provoked el-Rufai against Obi’s Group – Source

By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

Contrary to report linking the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, denial of Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi’s support group access to hold Northern Summit in support of Obi-Datti, at Arewa House, to Obi’s restriction of Governor’s movement during a governorship election in Anambra State in 2010, a source within the Obi group said that might not be correct.

The Guardian Newspaper of 20th July 2022, had quoted a Kaduna Government source who confided in it that “all is fair in love and war,” recalling how, in 2013 during the Anambra governorship poll, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) confined El-Rufai to his hotel room, reportedly on Obi’s orders.”

This, our source believed might not be the main reason why the government took the action, because according to the source, another Obi support group had held similar meeting at the same venue few days before the one that was aborted by the government.

Altakry’s visit to Sheikh Gumi on 16th July 2022

The source said, trouble started on the 16th July 2022, after the spokesman of the Peter Obi Support Network (POSN), Sani Saeed Altukry, posted a picture of himself and Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, after he had a meeting with him to discuss some political issues about Nigeria.

According to a post made by Altakry, on his Facebook wall, “Today 16th July, 2022, happens to be one of the best days of 2022 to me. My Visit to Sheikh Gumi is purely to discuss Socioeconomic and Political Issues.

“The Humility in him displays a lot of Sanity. He proves to be very versatile, erudite and intellectually Mobile. My special regards to Umar Abdulrazaq Abba who happens to be my guide to Sheikh Gumi. May Allah Increase Mallam in Knowledge and safeguard Him and His Entire Family….. Ameen summa ameen.”

This Facebook post the source said may have triggered anger within the Government House, saying “am sure the governor is not comfortable with the fact those promoting Obi, are selling him to religious leaders her.

“I knew we were going to have a problem the moment he went to visit Sheikh Gumi, some of us were not happy because it may bring bad publicity for Peter Obi, support here in Kaduna. The Governor didn’t stop the first Obi support group meeting we held at Arewa House, though not this particular group.

Altakry, had in a statement he issued to Journalists, condemned the action of governor for blocking them from using the venue without giving any reason, adding “We condemn the decision of El-Rufai to block the hosting of the Northern Summit for Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the LP presidential candidate and his running mate at the Arewa House in the state.

“The decision of the governor is disheartening at the critical point in time when Northern Nigerians are desperate for development and liberation from poverty due to maladministration.

“The summit is not a political campaign of any sort, but a convergence of volunteers, would-be volunteers and supporters of the Obi-Datti project for necessary interaction and cross-fertilisation of ideas.”

But reacting to the suspicion that his visit to Sheikh Gumi, might have triggered the governor’s action, Altakry, said a management staff of Arewa House, told him that the Governor was not happy for giving out the venue to the first Obi support group that met there and warned them not to give it out to anyone supporting Peter Obi, again.

“As far as i am concern, the Kaduna State Governor frowns at any form of opposition and now the Peter obi Support Movement is just like a Tsunami kind of movement. It has radicalized and change the mindset of many Nigerians, so not only the Governor of Kaduna State but even the presidential candidates of other parties.

“The APC, presidential candidate, whenever he is making statement must mention the labour party or Peter obi because is seeing him as a threat to their winning. So even when we were stopped from conducting our program in the arewa house, we have no option but to change our direction to another place. He said.

Altakry, further explained that, “As for my meeting with Mallam (Gumi), it was true we went to him, but we went there on different issue, not to spite the government. You might recall that there was a statement issued by Gumi, sometimes ago that since Peter obi announced his aspiration to contest for presidency, the issue of IPOB and the Biafra agitation or the secession agitation have calmed down.

“This for us is a plus, if the body language of someone like Peter obi can calm the nerves of the secessionists down, then what do you think if he becomes the President? We are even sure that even the issue of Boko Haram, Oduduwa Nations and others will become a history. Peter obi is a symbol for Nigeria’s unity.

“So we visited Gumi with regards to this and to discuss even the possibility of securing his support for our candidate, that was the major reason why we are with Gumi. And we are still in contact with so many other religious leaders not only Gumi because as far as Nigerian politics is concern the religious clerics plays a vital roles in mobilizing supporter for any political party.

“The Mallams and even all other religious leaders have that interest politically and you will not stop them from expressing their opinion but let me tell you the fact, there are a lot of religious leaders even from the north that are whole heartedly supporting Peter Obi, i might not mention any names, we are still mobilizing a lot more for him and many of them have already picked up interest and very soon they will organize prayers for him.

“As time goes on, we will unveil the name of so many northern religious leaders that are with Peter obi and even those that are against him we are going to reachout to them and let them know the reason why they should canvass support for Peter obi.”

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