APC North Central Demands Ganduje’s Suspension

A group of North Central All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders stormed the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, demanding that Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the national chairman, quit.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja on Thursday, the demonstrators stated that their demands were in response to the Kano State government’s purported bribery accusation against him and his recent suspension by a few of his ward executives.

The demonstrators urged President Bola Tinubu and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, George Akume, to take into consideration giving the North Central region the opportunity to lead the party again while they chanted solidarity songs and carried several banners that said things like “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central.” 

The Forum of APC State Chairmen only voted in favour of Ganduje on Tuesday, reaffirming their unwavering backing for him.

Under the banner of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders, the demonstrators bemoaned Ganduje’s prolonged tenure in power as a blatant transgression of the party’s zoning policy. 

The protest leader, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, said that his people in the North Central have voted against the national chairman and requested his immediate resignation, in contrast to the 37 APC state chairmen. 

In spite of delivering Tinubu the third-highest number of votes after North West and South West in the 2023 presidential election, Saba emphasised that the people of North Central felt deceived when the APC national chairmanship was taken from them after Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s resignation.

He said, “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.

The process for replacing an executive member at all levels of the party in the case of their demise, resignation, incapacitation, or expulsion from the party is outlined in several sections of our constitution.

“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.”