Despite the reprieve granted to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, by the Kano State High Court, which reversed itself on his suspension, forces bent on his exit at the party national secretariat are unrelenting.
Party faithful from the North Central region stormed the party national secretariat on Thursday morning, asking the former Kano State Governor to vacate his exalted seat.
The protesters, under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders and led by Mohammed Mahmud Saba, urged the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who incidentally is from Benue State in North Central, to ensure that the position of National Chairman of the APC be returned to North Central.
Checks revealed that Ganduje’s predecessor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is from Nasarawa State in the North Central zone.
While they dismissed the vote of confidence passed on Ganduje by the Forum of State Chairmen as a ruse, the protesters, who carried placards with the inscriptions ” Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” insisted that the office of National Chairman be returned to the North Central leader of the Forum, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, noted that the emergence of the former Kano state governor from the North West was a clear breach of the Party zoning arrangement.
He said, “We, the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders, have resolved to unanimously agitate for our rights and reclaim our mandate, which was handed to 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 us negatively 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 the 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; that 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 mobilise their members against this impunity until Ganduje resigns as the national chairman.”
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