As moves to remove acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Illiya Damagum, gather pace, his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Abdullahi Ganduje, was, yesterday, enmeshed in a battle to salvage his job following a ploy to suspend him at his ward in Kano State.
The plot to sack Ganduje came to the fore when some persons who claimed to be APC leaders in Ganduje Ward declared the national chairman suspended because of the allegations of corruption levelled against Ganduje by the state government.
The said ward APC leaders were led by Halliru Gwanzo who claimed to be the legal adviser at the ward level.
But in a swift counter move, the APC State Working Committee (SWC) in Kano State dismissed the suspension and, in turn, suspended the ward leaders who had pronounced suspension on Ganduje.
Recently, the Kano High Court had said Ganduje would on April 17, 2024, be arraigned on charges of bribery, diversion and misappropriation of funds, including the purported acceptance of $413,000 and N1.38bn in bribes.
The Kano State attorney general and commissioner of justice, Haruna Dederi, who confirmed the development, said Ganduje would be arraigned alongside his wife and six others.
LEADERSHIP recalls that the process that removed previous APC and PDP national chairmen from office began with their suspension at their wards. Those who lost their seats through this scheme are Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Prince Uche Secondus, and Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
However, the move to remove Ganduje from office assumed a dramatic twist yesterday when a team of ward leaders held a different press conference, declaring that they had been impersonated by those who slammed the suspension on the national chairman.
The Ganduje ward chairman, Ahmad Muhammad Ganduje, stated this at an emergency press briefing at the party’s headquarters in Kano yesterday evening, alongside 27 other exco members.
He said the impersonators had been identified and that legal action would be taken against them for impersonation and defamation of character.
“The attention of the Ganduje Ward Executive Committee members and that of Dawakin Tofa Local Government has been drawn to a purported suspension of the national chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, by unfortunately non-APC members in the ward.
“Those who addressed the press conference were sponsored by the NNPP state government and, from the record of the party at the ward, local government and state, are not card-carrying members of the APC.
“The purported suspension was null and void, and would have no effect on the national chairman.”
According to the ward chairman, the ward and local government executives, having identified the persons involved in this plot, had already prepared to charge them to court for impersonation and calculated attempts to embarrass and dent the image of the party and that of the national chairman.
The State Working Commitee of the party, on its part, said a special investigation panel had been set up to verify the allegations against the impersonators.
The Kano APC chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, said they had adopted the decisions of the local government party leaders, and are now investigating the culprits for anti-party activities.
“We have evidence of meetings between the state government officials and those that suspended the national chairman, and SWC has agreed to sanction them for six months and they now stand suspended,” Abbas said.
Earlier, the APC chairman in Dawakin Tofa local government area, Inusa Suleiman Dawanau, had told newsmen in Kano that those behind the suspension of the national chairman had engaged in anti-party activities and that records of their meetings with the ruling party in the state will be exposed.
Group Demands Arrest of Kwankwaso’s Boys Over Ganduje’s Purported Suspension
A group under the auspices of Progressives Foundational Movement (PFM) has called for the immediate arrest of the masterminds of the purported suspension of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in his ward.
Reacting to the purported suspension of Ganduje in a statement signed by its chairman, Emmanuel Aribigbe, the group said the faces of persons behind the suspension clearly show that they were the moles within APC sponsored by the Rabiu Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano.
Meanwhile, the agitation to remove Damagum as PDP acting chairman heightened yesterday ahead of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which has been dubbed make-or-mar for the party.
LEADERSHIP learnt that some PDP North Central stakeholders had intensified their clamour for an acting chairman to emerge from their region as originally designed by the party.
There have been agitations for Damagum, who hails from Yobe State (North East), to resign as acting chairman of PDP to pave the way for a national chairman from the North Central zone as originally planned by the party.
The recent call for Damagum’s resignation was made by opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives led by the member representing Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, who accused Damagum of working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and for failing to call the statutory quarterly NEC meeting since he replaced Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the PDP acting national chairman last year.
The agitation for Damagum’s resignation draws from a raging battle for the soul of the PDP between camps led by the party’s presidential candidate in 2023 Atiku Abubakar and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike.
The NEC meeting, which is scheduled for this Thursday, would be preceded by other strategic meetings from today, including PDP governors’ forum meeting, the PDP Caucus and the Board of Trustees (BoT).
So far, former governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam, former minister Humphrey Abba (Kogi State), and Dr Emmanuel Agbo (Benue State) have indicated interest to emerge as chairman of the party. They all hail from North Central.
It was, however, gathered that the camp led by the FCT minister is struggling to keep a united front going into the meetings. It was learnt that a key member of the G-5 group and serving governor may have distanced himself from the group.
A source told LEADERSHIP that that the governor, who has not had a smooth rapport with the group in recent times, has opted to pitch his tent with those calling for change in status quo in the party.
Meanwhile, PDP state chairmen have warned that they would not back any decision at the NEC which is contrary to the provision of the party’s constitution.
The chairman of the PDP state chairmen, Hassan Hyatt, in a chat with LEADERSHIP over the agitations in the party, said, “When dealing with politicians, people say different things for different reasons. As chairmen saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the party at our level, our responsibility and intent is the survival of the party. However, whatever anybody has in mind I believe they should follow the provisions of the party’s constitution. Anything outside the constitution of the party, you will not get the support of the state chairmen.”
On the failure of the party leadership to hold a NEC meeting as stipulated by the PDP constitution, Hyatt said resorting to the court for a solution was not the best option, adding that there are avenues to address those issues.
According, the matter could have been discussed and resolved in-house without heating up the party.
On the allegation that the party leadership is being teleguided by the ruling APC, the Kaduna State chairman said such allegations were not new because the ruling party would always seek to undermine the opposition.
“It is left for the party to put its house in order so that such things won’t happen,” he added.
Meanwhile, checks reveal that APC and PDP stakeholders from North Central are clamouring to reclaim the national chairmanship positions in the parties.
Recall that both parties zoned the national chairmanship seat to the North Central in the buildup to the 2023 election. While PDP’s Ayu was sacked by the court, APC’s Abdullahi Adamu, who hails from Nasarawa State (North Central), resigned his position. Ayu and Adamu left office last year.
Party sources in the APC confided in LEADERSHIP that the edging out of the North Central from the chairmanship seat has not sat well with some members from the zone.
“Party leaders from the zone are not pleased about it. But for respect for the president, they have seemingly held their peace, hoping that it would be rectified.
“I can tell you that the recent call by former national vice chairman of the APC, Salihu Lukman, for a national chairmanship seat to return to the North Central has gained traction with party leaders from the zone,” the source said.