It’s Not Easy To Take Govt From Incumbent, Ganduje Tells APC Aspirants

ABUJA – Ahead of the Anambra State governor­ship election scheduled for November 8, the National Chairman of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has acknowledged the fact that it will not be easy to take government from the incumbent.

He added that even though APC has two states in the South-East, the party wants to have more states from the zone.

Ganduje spoke in Abuja at the APC national secretariat when he and mem­bers of the National Working Committee (NWC) hosted Anambra State governor­ship aspirants, stakeholders and leadership of the state chapter of the party, led by the state chair­man, Chief Basil Ejidike.

Ganduje said: “You know it’s not easy to get the government from any incumbent. It requires a lot of political calculation, and cooperation is one of them.

“And then we move into other political calculations, which we don’t need to talk about them now, because we have not reached the stage yet. So, please, we urge, we beg you, no litigation. No anti-par­ty. No sitting on the fences. And no lukewarm attitude.

“Only what we require is your active participation. All of you will be gainers. All of you will be gainers if we have government in a number of states. So, help us to help you.

“You are all equal as far as we are concerned. You are all our chil­dren. All the aspirants.

“Please, don’t have any ste­reotype on any of our members concerning this contest. We are all for you once one of you emerges, we beg you.

“Please rally around him and become the foot soldiers, so that we win this election.”

Speaking further on why there’s need for the South-East to come under APC, Ganduje further said, “We always say South-East geopolitical zone is duly margin­alised in some political issues. But looking at the issue closely, looking at the arithmetic of politics in Ni­geria, we have five states, like we have been saying.

“A lot of pressure is going on, we have more states from South- East, that is a fact, a fact that must be admitted by everybody. But having five states controlled by four political parties, look at the arithmetic.

“Five states controlled by four political parties. Where is the uni­ty there? Where is the cooperation there? Where is the political invest­ment there?

“So you can see that the mar­ginalisation starts at home due to lack of synergy, due to lack of cooperation. Luckily enough now, we have two states for APC out of five, but still we want to pinch more, we want to get more.”

In his remarks, the Chairman of Anambra State chapter of APC, Chief Ejidike, recalled Ganduje ex­ploits in the South-East before now.

“I still remember in 2019, when you single-handedly sponsored the APC candidates in Anambra State. That was in 2019. I also re­member when you led a team to the state.

“That was under former gov­ernor of Anambra state, Chris Ngige, when we had a crisis in APC, you led a team of peace-mak­ers to the states and you were able to effectively douse the situation.

“And today, we are here again on your invitation all aimed at making sure that APC in the state succeed this time around. I thank you so much.

“Let it be on record that this is the first time the members of APC and in Anambra State have been called by the National Executive of our party to discuss issues pertain­ing to election in the state.

“We are having such an invi­tation and of course, for me, this is a clear signal for something good, and of course, I can’t wait to be part of the end product of this meeting and other ones that will come up.”