The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, on Wednesday, claimed the aborted move to suspend him from office on Monday was orchestrated to starve President Bola Tinubu of Kano votes ahead of the 2027 election.
Ganduje made the revelation when he received a delegation of 27 executive members of his ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State at the party secretariat in Abuja.
Also in attendance were members of the National Working Committee and executive members of Kano APC.
Despite surviving the suspension scare on Monday, the APC national chairman was on Wednesday slammed with an ex parte order restraining him from parading himself as a member of the party
The order was granted by a Kano State High Court.
Reacting to the drama, Ganduje told the delegation on Wednesday that his investigation has revealed that the arrows of persecution against him are coming from the camps of the New Nigeria People’s Party and the Governor of Kano, Abba Yusuf.
He said, “I welcome all the party members from Kano here, 27 of them if I am not mistaken. They are all members of my ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government in Kano State. But we have heard your complaint. You complained that you have dissociated yourselves from that false claim (suspension) and in addition, you have appealed that we take appropriate legal action according to the rule of law. This is very vital.
“When we first heard the news, we knew it was not true. But we had to exercise patience to affirm those behind it. After a formal investigation, it was found that those who met with officials of the Kano State government were not executive members either at the ward, state or even members of our party.
“These lies are peddled by the NNPP and the governor of Kano State to destroy our party because they are so concerned that during their first year in office, the people have seen the destruction of the economy of Kano down to the increase in political violence and also the destruction of political morality. With all these put together, they have started seeing the failure of their party. They are more concerned that we might take over the government from their party in 2027.”
While urging his supporters not to panic, the APC chairman disclosed that he knew it was a grand plan orchestrated to stop Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid by starving him of the same humongous votes he received from Kano State in the last presidential election.
Ganduje also confirmed that he has already informed security agents including the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Director General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi.
He further raised concerns that if the trend of allowing a party to cause chaos in another political platform is not checkmate, it tends to disrupt the practice of democracy in any nation.
“They are also concerned that we produced the second highest votes for Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They are so afraid we might produce far higher votes that can make the president retain his seat. So we know that their motive is to create confusion so that we will not have the courage to take over the government again and also to ensure that our President, Bola Tinubu, does not have the intimidation votes of that kind from Kano State again.
“We will tell them that their intention is impossible. That intention will fail. We will show them that our platform in Kano state is rock solid and it is getting ready to give Mr President very high votes, even the highest. This is a new distracted phenomenon in a democracy that should not be allowed to thrive in a political party. More importantly, you cannot just gather people from motor parks and claim that they are members of another political party.
“This new dimension of distraction should be checked by the security agencies and even the judiciary. We will not allow those saboteurs and fake APC politicians to go free like that. We have already written the IGP and DG of the DSS to pursue the case. We have their names, know their phone numbers, and even their political leanings. You have heard that some of them were even wearing the so-called red caps. They are so daft and insensitive. We assure you that we will pursue this case to a logical conclusion,” he said.