A group within the All Progressives Congress in the Ganduje Ward of the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje on Sunday.
This was highlighted on Sunday as stakeholders of the APC in the North-Central, at a press conference in Abuja, demanded that the party chairmanship should be given to the zone.
The PUNCH had previously reported that the Ganduje Ward Legal Adviser, Haladu Gwanjo, and some party leaders suspended the national chairman.
The ward leaders, who based the suspension on a $413,000 bribery case against Ganduje by the Kano State Government, said the decision was made by nine executive members of the APC ward.
The action was swiftly followed by a Kano State High Court order on Wednesday forbidding Ganduje from presenting himself as the APC national chairman.
However, the ward leaders, while visiting the national headquarters of the party, distanced themselves from Ganduje’s suspension, stating that they did not file any lawsuit at the Kano State High Court.
They claimed that the New Nigeria Peoples Party-led government in the state was responsible for the suspension.
The Kano State High Court order was temporarily halted when the national chairman obtained an injunction from the Federal High Court in Kano presided over by Justice A.M Liman.
The ruling was issued after Ganduje filed an emergency motion seeking to uphold his fundamental right to a fair hearing.
However, in the early hours of Sunday, another group from the Ganduje ward, asserting themselves as the rightful executive members, placed a new suspension on the chairman.
Speaking to the media in Kano, the Secretary of the group, Ja’afar Ganduje, who represented 11 other executive members, based the suspension on alleged anti-party activities by Ganduje.
The factional secretary also alleged that the APC national chairman had not paid his required dues to the party.
He stated, “We are the legitimate executive members of Ganduje ward and we have passed a vote of no confidence and imposed a new suspension on Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for a series of reasons.
“First, we have suspended Dr Ganduje’s membership for creating internal conflict among party members at the ward level.
“Another significant reason why the legitimate executive members decided to suspend Ganduje is the issue of anti-party activities he caused during the 2023 elections, which led to the party’s failure in the state.”
In response, the executive members of Ganduje ward, Ahmed Ganduje and Usaini Jibrin, jointly issued a statement labeling the group as impostors.
‘New officials impostors’
While reaffirming their status as the genuine executive members, they claimed that no new election was conducted by the state or national body of the APC to signal a new leadership.
They also accused the NNPP-led government of Kano State of organizing another group of non-APC members to disgrace the national chairman of the APC by suspending him.
The statement partly said, “To the best of our knowledge, as executive members of Ganduje ward of the APC, there was no new election of new leadership of our party. We remain the same executive of the ward.
“The sponsored group couldn’t do their homework properly by using a fake or uncertified letterhead on which they drew a list of non-existing party executive members.
“To worsen their situation, the leader of the group who announced the purported suspension is an NNPP member who ran but lost the councillorship election in Ganduje ward.
“We called on the national body of the party and security agencies to help in arresting and prosecuting the group for impersonation and attempting to cause disaffection in the party. We urge all our party members to ignore such propaganda aimed at disrupting the party.”
N’Central stakeholders
Meanwhile, some stakeholders of the North Central APC have demanded that the seat of the APC leadership should be returned to their zone.
The aggrieved APC stalwarts told newsmen in Abuja on Sunday that the alleged imposition of Ganduje on the party was insensitive and a clear violation of the zoning process in the party.
The Coordinator of Concerned North-Central APC stakeholders, Muhammad Etsu, argued that it was wrong for the party to replace the immediate past national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, who is from their region with the Ganduje, a politician of North-West extraction.
Etsu therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the National Executive Committee of the APC to remedy the situation by upholding Ganduje’s suspension while efforts were being made to return the seat to their zone.
He said, “We call on all party leaders and stakeholders to support the North-Central aspiration. This would strengthen the party, unite all interests and pave the way for a formidable APC that will consolidate its position across the board. Significantly, we also call on people of conscience to prevail on the ruling party to obey the order of the High Court of Kano state restraining and prohibiting Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from presiding over the affairs of APC pending the hearing and determination of the interlocutory injunction.
“This is to avoid sending the wrong signal to Nigerians that the party is anarchic, lawless and deviates from its Constitution. That is why we are calling on the President, and the NEC of our party to immediately swing into action by repositioning the APC and ensuring an inclusive remake of the NWC where the North Central Zone regains the position of the National Chairman of the party which it lost after the resignation of erstwhile Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.”
An APC chieftain from Adamawa, Sunny Sylvester, also threw his weight behind the agitation of the North-Central stakeholders, saying it was the right thing to do.
Sylvester told our correspondent after the press conference that the fact that zoning is being violated in some major opposition parties does not mean the ruling party can’t be different.
He said, “This position belongs to the North-Central. It was zoned to them and one will expect to retain the seat after Abdullahi Adamu left the party.”
When reminded that the issue could lead to disobeying the court and being punished, Sylvester disagreed because Ganduje got a temporary court order telling everyone to stop and wait.
“No, Ganduje got the injunction from a different court instead of going back to the court that issued the first order. That was wrong. The court said he should not act as the national chairman. He should follow that.
“In simpler terms, what we are saying is ‘return this position to the North-Central’ where it belongs. That is the agreement. The zone itself has many states. I am not from North-Central. But as a concerned party stakeholder from Adamawa State in the North East, I think the right thing should be done.
“The same thing happened when Iyorchia Ayu of the PDP was removed, his zone demanded his seat. We all know what follows. But we are saying the APC should do things right. We should not be like them,” he stated.
But the APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, thinks differently.
Ibrahim insisted that the people attacking the national chairman were just trying to mock the law and disrespect the judiciary.
He said, “When the court orders to keep things as they are, you can’t have people doing the opposite. It is not just disobeying the court but total disrespect to the judiciary and, by extension, to the national anthem of the country. It is now moving away from politics to disorderly conduct.
“I think some people are trying to show that even though they came to power via the pronouncement of the court, they have no respect for the court. Whoever is behind this should be called to order by way of a serious punishment. The law is common sense and sensibly applied. Now common sense should tell you where they say ‘maintain status quo’ until the substance of the matter is heard.
“Even though Dr Abdullahi Ganduje said controversy and politics go hand in hand, he also admitted that there are three underlying factors – reality, morality and legality. As long as reality is not overthrown by morality and legality, everything is going to be alright. The reality on the ground is that he is in total control of the party. He is the national chairman and respectable leader of the APC. Anybody who is not happy with that should go to court and not engage in underground shenanigans that will ridicule him at the end of the day. Ganduje and Oshiomhole’s cases are incomparable. This one is political rascality taken too far.”
The Senior Special Assistant Assistant to the APC National Chairman on Public Enlightenment, Chief Oliver Okpala, also shared his position.
According to him, those causing the crisis in the party clearly need to be evaluated by a psychiatrist.
He said, “Their main aim is to be causing distraction and crisis thereby derailing having a return to civilian rule and the practice of democratic process in the country.
“Secondly, under judicial practice, these people are supposed to be committed to prison custody for disobeying the court. Remember there is a definite order from a Federal High Court that the status quo should be maintained by all and sundry in favour of Ganduje and the furtherance of his fundamental human rights.
“How can anyone break this order in the name of a faction? As mentioned before, these people are breaking a valid court order.”
