APC/PDP CRISES…Ganduje Battles For Survival, Damagum Knows Fate Today

National chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, yesterday, continued the raging battle to retain his seat follo-wing a Kano State High Court order which restrained him from parading himself as an APC member, thereby affirming a contentious suspension slammed on him by some acclaimed party executives in his ward.

The court judgement came on the back of a suspension pronoun-cement on Ganduje by some per-sons who declared themselves executive members of Ganduje Ward in Dawakin-Tofa local government area of Kano State.

The Ganduje ward executives, who were subsequently described as impostors by the APC in Kano State, said they suspended Gandu-je because of the allegations of corruption levelled against him by the Kano State government.

Ganduje is the immediate-past governor of the state. The present Kano State government recently opened a probe into the activities of Ganduje’s administration, including his family members.
However, reacting to his sus-pension and the resultant court order, Ganduje yesterday attributed the unfolding political scenario to a plot by Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, who was elected on the platform New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), to weaken APC in the state ahead of the 2027 general election and other electoral contests.

The national chairman, who stated this while addressing party members from his ward who visited the APC national secretariat to show their support for him, said the APC is battle ready to ensure no presidential candidate from Kano Sta-te unseats President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Similarly the APC leadership said it had rejected the court judgement, describing it as fraudulent and un-lawful.

Meanwhile, Ganduje’s coun-terpart in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Illiya Damagum will know his fate today at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

Although the National Working Committee (NWC) announced a vote of confidence on him after their meeting on Tuesday, the legal basis on which he held onto his acting po-sition caved in yesterday as a former national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, withdrew his appeal at the Ap-pellate Court. Ayu had gone to the Appeal Court seeking to overturn a judgement of the lower court which removed him from office in 2023.

More so, governors elected on the platform of the party rose from their meeting yesterday and decla-red that NEC would decide on wh-ether or not Damagum should remain in office.

Damagum had been accused by some PDP leaders, including federal lawmakers, of doing the bidding of the APC. They have also demanded his resignation as acting chairman so that a chairman from the North Central will emerge.

Damagum’s travail is an offshoot of the broader battle for the control of PDP between camps loyal to the former Vice President Atiku Abu-bakar and Federal Capital Territo-ry (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike, a tussle that has lingered since the party’s presidential primary election in 2022.

APC Rejects Court Order Af-firming Ganduje’s Suspension
The APC National Working Committee described the court or-der upholding the suspension of Ganduje as fraudulent and unlawful, stressing that it will not be recognised or respected.

The APC national legal adviser, Prof. Abdulkarim Kana, stated this while briefing journalists shortly af-ter the APC Ward Executives from Ganduje Ward in Dawakin-Tofa Lo-cal Government Area of Kano Sta-te visited the party’s national chair-man in his office in Abuja.

Kana also said the Ganduje Ward executives had proceeded to the National Judicial Council (NJC) to submit a petition for Kano High Court Judge, Justice Usman Na’abba, to be called to order.
He said individuals who are be-hind the purported suspension are neither APC members nor executives of the party in Ganduje Ward.

The exparte motion was repor-tedly filed by Dr Ibrahim Sa’ad on behalf of two executive members of Ganduje’s ward, Dawakin-Tofa Lo-cal Government Area, the assistant secretary, Laminu Sani and Legal Adviser, Haladu Gwanjo (plaintiffs), who were part of the nine ward executives that purportedly suspended Ganduje on Monday.

The legal adviser said, “It is a ty-pical 419 situation and they went too far by obtaining a fraudulent judgement. We also heard this af-ternoon about that order. We haven’t seen it but any form of order that emanates from falsehood, then you know that such order is unlawful and will not be recognised or re-spected.
Earlier, the APC chairman for Dawakin Tofa local government area, Halliru Gwanzo, who led the ward exco distanced themselves from the purported suspension and the court case filed against Gandu-je leading to that order.
Gwanzo, who led 27 other execu-tives from the ward, insisted that he was impersonated and called on the party’s leadership to probe the mat-ter and punish those found guilty of the illicit act, saying the act was the handiwork of the New Nigeri-an People’s Party (NNPP) admini-stration in the state.

Ganduje, after appreciating the ward executives for distancing them-selves from the plot to remove him from office, accused Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP of being behind the plot, saying he wanted to weaken APC in the state ahead of the 2027 general election and other electoral contests.

He said, “In fact, what is happening is that it is an incursion into our political party by the NNPP government of Kano in order to destroy our party. They are so concerned that in their first year in office, they have seen their failures right from the de-struction of the economy of Kano Sta-te to increased political violence and also destruction of political morality in Kano State.

Ganduje revealed that the party had reported the matter to the IGP and the DG DSS which are handling the case “because we have their pictures, names, and we know their political leanings. Some of them were captu-red even wearing kwankwasjyya cap. They were so daft and insensitive that they couldn’t camouflage properly.”

APC Youths Back Ganduje Also, some youths in the ruling APC, in their thousands, from across the country thronged the national secretariat of the party to show their support for chairman of the party, Ganduje,.

The youths, under the umbrella body of the APC Democratic Front said Alhaji Ganduje had shown purposeful leadership crucial to the party’s survival.

In his address, the convener of the group, Comrade Kabir Matazu, said under Ganduje’s remarkable guidance, the APC has achieved landmark victories in various elections across the country.

The APC stakeholders, therefore, warned imposters to stay away from the party as they don’t mean well.
APC, NNPP Trade Barbs Over Ganduje’s Travails

Meanwhile, the chairman of the NNPP in Kano, Hashimu Dungura-wa dismissed the claim yesterday that the ruling party in the state was be-hind Ganduje’s travails.

who suspended Ganduje were con-vinced of the alleged corrupt acts le-velled against Ganduje and decided to save the image and integrity of the APC by suspending him from the party.

“These young APC ward leaders are not happy with Ganduje at all. They now saw that the Kano State governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has opened investigations on the former governor and is seen to have a lot of skeletons in his cupboard, they decided to re-act, which they did at the right time.”
He dismissed claims that the for-mer presidential candidate of NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, intended to return to the APC.

An APC stalwart and three-time Commissioner for Rural and Com-munity Development, Musa Ilyasu Kwankwaso, challenged Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to include former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in his investigation of corruption to as-sure the people of Kano he is honest and transparent
He added that Kwankwaso had been indicted before by the Governor Ibrahim Shekaru’s administration and was charged with corruption.

NEC Will decide Damagum’s fate – PDP governors
Despite a confidence vote passed on Damagum by the National Working Committee (NWC), governors elected on the party’s platform said only the NEC will determine whether or not the embattled acting national chairman will retain his position.

Chairman of the PDP governors’ forum and Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, who spoke with newsmen after their meeting yester-day, also dismissed insinuations that the party is factionalised.
Responding to a question on the agitation for change in leadership, the governor said, “There are no conten-ding forces. Who is the NEC? NEC is the PDP Governors’ Forum and other stakeholders, so we are just a portion of NEC; we cannot talk on behalf of NEC until we get there.

“NEC will take decisions on such issues, not the governors. I know the governors normally take leadership position, but we have an acting per-son in leadership capacity leading the party and NEC will decide whether it is time to fill the vacancy looking at the legal implications of doing that, knowing that they are so many lingering litigations in court and of course we don’t want to dis-parage ourselves, because we know that they are some marauders hi-ding somewhere trying to factionalise our party and take one faction to go and do coalition. We are not going to allow that as governors. We are very responsible and we are very credible and we will make sure we resolve all the issues and unify the party for maximum efficiency and success in the next election.”

However, in their communique after the meeting, the governors said “The meeting noted that there are no factions in the PDP and everybody is working together.

“We equally want to use this op-portunity to reaffirm that in Rivers State, the governors would work assiduously towards resolving all the issues in the state with a view to uniting all the stakeholders.”
Besides Mohammed, other governors who attended the meeting are Gov. Siminalayi Fubara – Rivers State – vice chairman; Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri – Adamawa State; Gov. Umo Eno – Akwa Ibom State; Gov. Douye Diri – Bayelsa State; Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori – Delta State; Dep. Gov. Omobayo M. Godwins – Edo State; Dep. Gov. Ifeanyi Ossai – Enugu State.

However, aggrieved opposition lawmakers in the party said with the withdrawal of Ayu’s appeal in court, the chairmanship position must return to the North Central.

In a statement, the lawmakers led by Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, commended Ayu for withdra-wing the lawsuit, adding that the action had removed “the last bott-leneck and excuse being given by Damagum to hang on to power and opened the express way without any excuse for Damagun to revert to his position as deputy chairman.”

In an intriguing twist of events, the FCT minister, Wike, attended the national caucus meeting of the party, late Wednesday night.

The caucus is the nucleus of the party decision making before the NEC.
However, the aggrieved opposition lawmakers in the party, said with the withdrawal of Ayu’s appeal in court, the chairmanship position must return to the North Central.

In a statement, the lawmakers led by Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere Ideato Rep, commended Ayu for withdrawing the lawsuit, adding that the action has removed “the last bottleneck and excuse been given by Damagum to hang on to power and opened the express way without any excuse for Damagun to revert back to his position as Deputy Chairman.”