Fresh trouble is brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as one of the Ondo State governorship aspirants in the last Saturday’s primary election, Olusola Oke said the exercise was null and void, claiming the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje lacks jurisdiction to conduct the exercise.
This is as scores of protesters from North Central stormed the national secretariat of the party on Thursday, demanding the resignation of the National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, following his recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the alleged bribery allegation leveled against him by the Kano State government.
Oke, in a petition signed by his counsel, Oluwaseyi Bamigboye, said “the primary election is a nullity having been organised, superintendent and supervised by Abdullahi Ganduje against a valid, binding and subsisting order of Kano State High Court by which he was restrained from performing the functions of the office of National Chairman of the APC at all times material to the conduct of the primary election.”
INSIDE BUSINESS recalls that the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa was declared winner having scored 48,569 votes to beat the other 15 aspirants to the ticket.
Mr Aiyedatiwa was followed by Mayowa Akinfolarin, who polled 15,343 votes, while Olusola Oke came third with 14,915 votes.
Oke further stated that the primary election was conducted in variance to the law, the APC Constitution and Nomination Guidelines.
He further highlighted the infractions, which include; the absence of the validated membership register; failure to deploy electoral personnel to the venues prescribed for each ward and each local government; failure to distribute electoral materials to local governments and Wards venues where elections were to be held and election results collated.
“The prescribed procedure for voting is an Open Secret Ballot not adopted (paragraph 22(iii)(2), members shall assemble at their respective wards and vote by Open Secret Ballot (Option A4).
“Others are failure to display the membership register, No accreditation of financial members; change of venues without notice; non-accreditation of aspirants’ agents and election not conducted, yet results generated and allocated by returning officers camped in Hotel in Akure, the results declared were not the products of any election, wild spread violence and wild spread corruption.”
He therefore called on the committee “to set aside the primary election for being a nullity, flawed, having been conducted against the order of the court, lis pendens and without compliance with relevant provisions of laws and APC Constitution and Guidelines.
“Since no valid declaration can be based on an invalid primary election, the committee is urged to recommend or direct a conduct of fresh primary to be conducted in line with applicable laws and guidelines.” Oke insisted.
N/Central Group Storms Party Secretariat, Insists National Chair Must Go
In a similar development, a group of protesters on Thursday stormed the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja, demanding the resignation of the National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
The group cited his recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the alleged bribery allegation levelled against him by the Kano State government.
Addressing journalists, the protesters under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders said Ganduje’s emergence and continued stay in office was a clear violation of the zoning process in the party.
The Spokesperson of the group, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, disclosed that, contrary to the vote of confidence passed on Ganduje, two days ago by 37 APC state chairmen, his people in the North Central have passed a vote of no confidence on him and equally demanded his immediate resignation.
Speaking further, Saba said the people of North Central felt betrayed when the position of APC national chairman was hijacked from them following the exit of Senator Abdullahi Adamu despite giving Tinubu the third highest votes after North West and South West at the 2023 presidential election.
He words; “We the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders have resolved to unanimously agitate for our right and reclaim our mandate which was handed unto us by the National Convention of our great Party in 2022. Various sections of our constitution have established the procedure of 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 done against the spirit and soul of the APC which is the constitution of our great party. This singular act has impacted negatively on us as a people in the North Central. We feel betrayed and spited because we gave His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the third highest votes after North West and South West in the country which put us in a better position to enjoy the fruit of our labour.
“We, therefore, 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 be respected by the NEC and all other organs of the party and that 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.”
Chanting solidarity songs and displaying placards that read, “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” the protesters appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to consider returning the leadership of the party to their region.
Recall that the former governor of Kano State has been in the eye of the storm recently, having been slammed with a fresh suspension by a faction of the Ganduje Ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano, an action the ruling party said was carried out by some impostors allegedly being sponsored by the state government.
