By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Definitely this is not the best of times for the embattled National Chairman of All progressive Congress (APC) Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, as scores of demonstrators on Thursday, 25 April 2024, stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to demand his resignation from office.
The latest development followed his recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the alleged bribery allegation levelled against him by the Kano State government.
Chanting solidarity songs and displaying several banners that read, “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” the protesters appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to consider returning the leadership of the party to their region.
The agitation comes two days after the Forum of APC State Chairmen passed a vote of confidence on Ganduje and backed him to remain as national chairman.
The delegation of 37 state chairmen gave the endorsement during a solidarity visit to the national secretariat of the party.
The former Governor had recently been slammed with a suspension by a faction of the Ganduje Ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano, an action the ruling party said was carried out by some impostors allegedly being sponsored by the state government.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the protesters under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders lamented that the continued stay of Ganduje in office was a clear violation of the zoning process in the party.
Leader of the demonstrators, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, disclosed that, unlike the 37 APC state chairmen, his people in the North Central have passed a vote of no confidence on the national chairman and equally demanded his immediate resignation.
Saba reiterated that the people of North Central felt betrayed when the position of APC national chairman was hijacked from them following the exit of Senator Abdullahi Adamu despite giving Tinubu the third highest votes after North West and South West at the 2023 presidential election.
“We the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders have resolved to unanimously agitate for our right and reclaim our mandate which was handed unto us by the National Convention of our great Party in 2022. Various sections of our constitution have established the procedure of replacing an executive member at all levels of the party in the event of death, resignation, incapacitation or expulsion from the party by any executive member.
“It is a fact that the emergence of Dr. Umar Ganduje as national chairman was done against the spirit and soul of the APC which is the constitution of our great party. This singular act has impacted negatively on us as a people in the North Central. We feel betrayed and spited because we gave His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the third highest votes after North West and South West in the country which put us in a better position to enjoy the fruit of our labour.
“We, therefore, demand that Dr Umar Ganduje resign immediately and stop parading himself as the National Chairman of our great party; the zoning arrangements made by the National Convention in 2022, which zoned the office of the national chairman to the North Central be respected by the NEC and all other organs of the party and that all governors elected on the platform of the APC in the North Central should wake up from their slumber and mobilize their members against this impunity until Ganduje resigns as the national chairman,” Saba said.
