The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, narrowly escaped a palace coup orchestrated from his ward, as a counter move by the State Working Committee of the party ensured that the move to oust him was thwarted, Adedayo Akinwale writes
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje was sent into a panic mood on Monday when news filtered in that he had been suspended by the executive of his Ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State.
His ward executive had accused him of gross misconduct and misappropriation of public funds during his administration in the state.
The legal adviser of Ganduje’s ward, Haladu Gwanjo, explained that they decided to suspend Ganduje from the party due to the allegations against him by the state government bordering on bribery.
It would be recalled that in 2018, a viral video had captured Ganduje allegedly receiving bundles of dollar notes as a bribe from a man said to be a contractor and stuffing them in the pockets of his babanriga.
Ganduje had denied the content of the video when it first surfaced and maintained his innocence. However, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP)’s administration of Governor Abba Yusuf revisited the case and vowed to prosecute the former governor.
The state government arraigned Ganduje in Kano High Court on April 16 on charges bordering on allegations of bribery, diversion, and misappropriation of funds, including the purported acceptance of $413,000 and N1.38 billion in bribes.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Haruna Dederi, had said Ganduje would be arraigned alongside his wife and six others.
The accused individuals, as listed in the writ of summon, included: Ganduje, Hafsat Umar, Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lesage General Enterprises.
But the State Working Committee (SWC) of APC in a counter move, overruled the alleged suspension of Ganduje by the ward executive and even suspended those involved.
Also, the party leaders in the local government level thwarted the suspension and described it as null and void.
Avoiding Oshiomhole’s Dose
The counter move became imperative as it brought to mind how the former National Chairman of the ruling party, Senator Adams Oshiomhole was ousted using his ward executive.
Recall that the executive of Etsako Ward 10 suspended Oshiomhole during a battle of wits between the former chairman and Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
Oshiomhole had earlier denied Obaseki the ticket of the party to contest for a second term in office on the platform of the APC. To get back at him, Obaseki through his ward executive orchestrated his suspension from the party.
But Oshiomhole and the APC national leadership discountenanced the suspension, saying it was invalid. They said only the party headquarters could suspend national officers of the party including the chairman.
But a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court okayed the suspension of Oshiomhole, pending the determination of a substantive suit.
The court said that Oshiomhole, having been suspended as a member of the APC by the party in Edo State, stood suspended.
Panic in APC’s Secretariat
Hours after the drama began unfolding, there was palpable tension at the national headquarters of APC in Abuja. The secretariat staff were seen in pockets of groups discussing the development, while expressing concerns whether the same fate that befell Oshiomhole would consume Ganduje.
The tension-soaked atmosphere worsened when a few national officers that reported at the party secretariat hurriedly left after spending a few minutes. Among them were: Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Eneukwu; and the National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Argungu, who left immediately after presenting certificate of participation to the aspirants for this weekend’s Ondo State governorship primary.
However, the arrival of the National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, and the Deputy National Secretary, Festus Fuanter, doused the tension and brought some relief to the anxious workers.
Some of the secretariat staff admitted that they were worried over the future of their boss, and the possibility of his wriggling out of the situation that consumed his predecessor a few years ago.
“He should not have even allowed the pronouncement to take place in the first place. Now that the suspension has been announced, it may go beyond the state chapter executive overturning the ward executive decision. Was there any weapon Oshiomhole did not apply to nullify his suspension, including obtaining several court judgments, yet he could not escape the dangling hammer?” a staff member said in a hushed tone.
While the drama was unfolding, a joint press conference by the Ganduje’s Ward executive and Dawakin Tofa LG executive committee members held on Monday, April 15 described the ward executive that suspended the national chairman as impersonators and impostors and would be charged to court accordingly.
Expectedly, the chairman of Ganduje’s ward, Ahmed Koko maintained that those that purportedly suspended the national chairman were members of NNPP.
He said: “The attention of the Ganduje Ward executive committee members and that of Dawakin Tofa Local Government was 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-led state government, and from the record of the party at the ward, local government and state, they are not card-carrying members of the APC”.
“The purported suspension was null and void, and would have no effect on the national chairman. The ward and local government executives, having identified the persons involved in this unfortunate situation, have 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.”
Koko, therefore, called on all party members to disregard the purported suspension and remain calm.
Similarly, the Kano State APC chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, said the State Working Committee of the party deemed it necessary to adopt the suspension of the ward leaders for working in tandem with the opposition to suspend Ganduje from the party.
Adopting the suspension of the ward’s leaders, the state chairman set up a committee to investigate their anti-party activities.
He said: “We have evidence of meetings between the state government officials and those that suspended the national chairman. The state working committee has agreed to sanction them for six months and they stand suspended.”
Also, the Progressives Foundational Movement (PFM) described the ward executives as moles planted in APC by the NNPP.
The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Emmanuel Aribigbe, maintained that Ganduje has not committed any offence that should warrant suspension by the ward executive.
While there were still condemnations against attempts to move the APC national chairman from office, his legal problems were stepped up with the decision of the Kano State Anti-Corruption and Public Complaints Commission to file more charges against him including the alleged diversion of state funds to Bureau De Change operators. The chairman of the commission, Muhuyi Magaji who spoke during a television interview, said the commission had uncovered the diversion of N51.3 billion from local government funds to unauthorized individuals during Ganduje’s tenure.
Magaji alleged that the Ganduje’s administration withdrew N1 billion monthly from state coffers before its tenure ended in May 2023, purportedly for road renovation, but diverted to BDC operators instead. He also cited a case involving N4 billion transferred to an agricultural company from Kano’s consolidated revenue account.
Legal Fireworks
Unfortunately, Ganduje’s respite appeared to be short- lived as a Kano State High Court affirmed his suspension following an ex parte order restraining him from further parading himself as a member of APC. The order was granted by Justice Usman Na’abba, on Tuesday. The order followed an ex parte motion filed by Haladu Gwanjo and Laminu Sani by their counsel Ibrahim Sa’ad.
The plaintiffs, who identified themselves as the executive members of APC in Ganduje ward, said they brought the motion on behalf of the executive members of the ward. Consequently, the court ordered that henceforth, Ganduje should desist from presiding over all affairs of the NWC of APC.
But the party’s NWC said the court order is unenforceable. The party described the order restraining Ganduje from further parading himself as the chairman of the party as a nullity.
The National Legal Adviser of the party, Prof. Abdulkarim Kana, insisted that the order was obtained by fraud and as such is not enforceable. He said the ward executive would petition the National Judicial Council (NJC) to call the high court judge to order.
The Ganduje ward executive of the party also passed a vote of confidence in him. Dismissing the order, the APC national chairman, also told the ward executives that he was not moved as those who purportedly suspended him were impostors.
In what could be seen as a battle of judicial wits, by Thursday a Federal High Court in Kano ordered that the suspension of Ganduje as national chairman of the party, be halted.
Ruling the ex parte motion filed by the embattled APC national chairman seeking to enforce his fundamental rights to fair hearing, Justice A.M Liman, ordered all the parties involved in the attempts to remove Ganduje from office to maintain status quo and to stay action pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application.
The respondents in the application are the police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and nine other individuals. The judge then fixed April 30 to hear the case.
It is not yet clear if Ganduje will survive the plot against him or go the way of Oshiomhole. Events in the next few days will tell.
