Defection Rumours: No Plans to Leave APC – Chieftain

The Kano-born politician and businessman Alhaji AbdulSalam AbdulKarim Zaura — popularly known as AA Zaura — has publicly dismissed rumours that he plans to quit the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Alhaji Zaura told supporters and the media that his commitment to the party has never wavered: in the past, now, or in the future.

Responding to the speculation through his senior media aide, Hassan Sardauna, Zaura moved quickly to put the matter to rest.

Speaking in a statement on Saturday, the aide quoted the chieftain as saying: “I want to categorically inform you that the allegations are not true. It is hear say, it is unfounded, I want to inform you all that I and my camp have never thought and will never leave the APC.

Sardauna used the opportunity to underline Zaura’s record of service and heavy investment in party structures across Kano.

On his principal’s contribution he quoted Zaura again: “If you are talking about loyalty and contributions to the party in Kano State I am assuring you that we have paid our dues, it is only one person in the state that I can tell you he has done above us for the party, that is former governor and former APC chairman Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

The media aide also explained the sacrifices the camp has made in the name of party-building: “anyone whether in government or not no one has given his all than us because he never did. The reason is that we contested for governorship but we were given Senatorial candidacy for Kano Central and before then we have contested under the platform of another party before we joined the APC.

Sardauna went on to list tangible interventions credited to Zaura across the state: “We bought 44 cars for the 44 local government areas in the state and shared them, bought three again for the three Senatorial Districts and rented party offices for them, apart from individual gifts for countless people, in hospitals we are there.

He recounted recent philanthropic acts that, the camp says, demonstrate Zaura’s continuing investment in the community: “Recently AA Zaura bought infant milk and distributed them to babies not up to a fortnight ago, he invested in cultists and drug addicts of Kano origin by investing about 1 billion naira to rehabilitate them, patients in the hospitals have also received support by off setting their bills, there was a patient that needed assistance which he provided support for, another girl who got burnt was also assisted.

Zaura’s camp stressed that these actions make any suggestion of defection implausible.

The statement insisted the chieftain remains a committed party man, supporting the APC from top to bottom and backing national leadership.

It noted loyalty to President Bola Tinubu and to former governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and emphasised that the camp keeps peaceful relations with other party figures across the state.

Sardauna reaffirmed that the rumours are baseless and untrue: for anyone to claim AA Zaura is planning to leave the party, he said, “is a mirage and unrealistic.”