A group of stakeholders from the North Central zone of the All Progressives Congress has staged a protest at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, demanding the resignation of the National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
The protesters, who are members of the APC, expressed their demand in light of Ganduje’s recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the bribery allegations leveled against him by the Kano State government.
While addressing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, the protesters, chanting solidarity songs and displaying banners with messages such as “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to consider returning the party’s leadership to the North Central zone.
Despite the Forum of APC State Chairmen passing a vote of confidence in Ganduje on Tuesday, the protesters, under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders, lamented that Ganduje’s continued stay in office violated the zoning principle within the party.
Mohammed Mahmud Saba, who led the protest, stated that unlike the 37 APC state chairmen, the people of the North Central zone had passed a vote of no confidence in the national chairman and demanded his immediate resignation.
Saba reiterated that the people of the North Central felt betrayed when the position of APC national chairman was not retained by their zone after Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s exit, despite their significant support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election.
He said, “We, the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders, have resolved to unanimously agitate for our right and reclaim our mandate, which was given to us by the National Convention of our great Party in 2022.
“Various sections of our constitution have established the procedure for 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 against the spirit and soul of the APC, which is the constitution of our great party. This singular act has negatively impacted us as the people of the North Central.
“We feel betrayed and slighted 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 labor.
“Therefore, we 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, should be respected by the NEC and all other organs of the party. 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.”
