The Senate on Tuesday asked the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, to provide a replacement for the demolition of the secretariat of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State.
Alternatively, the Senate urged the state governor to compensate the owner of the building, Suleiman Hunkuyi, who currently represents Kaduna North in the National Assembly.
The resolution followed a Point of Order raised by Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), who described the governor as “an affliction on the people of Kaduna State”.
The development comes as Hunkuyi revealed in Abuja that the same building demolished by the state government was used as a rallying point for the governor’s election in 2015, even as he said he had forgiven El-Rufai.
Rising on Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rule, Sani urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the governor to order.
Briefing journalists after the demolition of his house in Kaduna, Hunkuyi said if the demolition was meant to shut him up, it will rather strengthen him and make him stay with the electorates whom he said are being oppressed by the government in Kaduna state.
According to him, the demolition is not too much a price to pay for democracy to thrive, adding that he had donated the facility to the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) for political activities.
The lawmaker wondered why the governor, whom he said had benefitted from the building, will wake up as early as 4am to personally supervise the demolition exercise.
He therefore said people like the governor do not have no position in executive positions in the country, since he does not have the capacity to tolerate conflicting voices around him. He said despite different views, they must coexist in the state.
He therefore vowed that he will continue to express and defend the interest of his people irrespective of whose ox of gored, just as he accused the governor of not heeding good counsel.
In his remarks, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, condemned the action, saying democracy has no place for tyranny and impunity.
Also on Tuesday, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party condemned the demolition exercise, saying that “Nigerians now live in fear of this intolerant, overbearing, bigoted and dictatorial APC administration seeking to foist a fascist regime on our country”.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
