By Aminu Kutama
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa, has denied injuring anyone in his clash with the deputy governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State, Murtala Garo.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Doguwa denied going to the venue of the party’s meeting to fight Mr Garo, saying that he was only at the meeting to see the state APC chairman, Abdullahi Abbas.
“I was not there to attend the meeting. I was there just to see Abdullahi Abbas and leave.
“When I arrived at the Gawuna’s residence and I entered the meeting room, I saw them having a meeting. I then cracked this joke at the deputy governor, saying that the National Assembly caucus ought to have had a representation in this meeting.
“It was at that point Murtala just flared up, saying ‘must you be invited?’, must the National Assembly caucus be invited?’. He then started abusing me and insulting me in Hausa “banza maras mutunci, dan uban ka ba za a gayyace ka ba.”
“He continued to insult me and even attempted to grab my attire, that was the point I lost control and started retaliating.
“In the course of moving towards me to fight me, there was a cup of tea on the table. So Garo hit the cup which fell down and got broken.
Mr Doguwa, however, denied injuring Mr Garo during the fisticuffs.
“When he swiftly moved towards me, he slipped on the floor and fell on the broken cup and got injured. I want to state that, I did not injure Murtala.
“The news gave the impression that I injured Murtala, but I did not injure him. I did not use any material that can injure,” Mr Doguwa claimed.
The majority leader also called on Governor Abdullahi Ganduje to take control of the party before it disintegrates in 2023.