There is no reprieve in sight for All Progressives Congress (APC), National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, as the APC North-Central Forum has moved to appeal Monday’s ruling by an Abuja Federal High Court which dismissed a suit seeking his removal from office.
Chairman of the North-Central APC Forum, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, informed NewsNGR that the group has instructed its lawyers to appeal the ruling.
The APC group, which has been pushing for Ganduje’s removal as the party’s National Chairman and his replacement with a national chairman from the North-Central, in line with a subsisting zoning arrangement, had asked the court to sack Ganduje from the office.
In the suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/599/2024, the APC North-Central Forum had dragged Ganduje, APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before the court, praying for the nullification of Ganduje’s appointment as national chairman on the grounds of gross violation of the party’s Constitution.
Specifically, the group argued that Ganduje’s appointment breached Article 13 of the APC Constitution because it was not made through the democratic process enshrined in the party’s law. The North-Central APC Forum, led by Zazzaga, also queried the propriety of Ganduje’s appointment as the national chairman of the APC when he is not from the North-Central, the zone the office was ceded to in line with the zoning arrangement.
But the court presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling on Monday, September 23, 2024, dismissed the suit, stating that the APC North-Central Forum is not a juristic group, having not been registered in law and therefore has no legal power and capacity to file the suit.
However, reacting to the development in a chat with NewsNGR, Zazzaga faulted the ruling.
Zazzaga explained that the group is only asking for a judicial interpretation of some provisions of the APC Constitution.
He said, “Yesterday the court ruled in favour of Ganduje. We are going to appeal the ruling. We have already directed our lawyers to appeal the ruling. We are hoping that we will get justice at the Appeal Court because what we are asking the court is to interpret our party’s Constitution, particularly the section which said if anybody occupying a position dies or resigns, that same position should come back to the same zone, and the party will hold an election to full the vacancy.
“There was no election conducted to replace Abdullahi Adamu.
“The judge did not understand what we are asking for. We just want the court to interpret the Constitution. That is all.”
Zazzaga in the same vein reacted to comments by Ganduje’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Enlightenment, Chief Oliver Okpala, who alleged that he was planted by opposition political parties to destabilize the APC.
Okpala made the allegation after Zazzaga opposed Ganduje’s endorsement by the Chairman of the North-Central Governors’ Forum, Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule.
Kicking against the endorsement, Zazzaga had accused the Nasarawa governor of betrayal, saying he was working against the collective interest of the North-Central zone.
Zazzaga insisted that he is not being sponsored by any opposition party to derail the APC, as claimed by Ganduje’s aide.
He said, “I am an APC member. I was a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. I delivered my polling unit up to the ward and the local government. What we are doing is for the benefit of the North-Central and we started this agitation since 2018. We pushed for the establishment of the North-Central Development Commission. There was a time we demanded that the presidency should go to the North-Central. We demanded the position of vice president and we also ended up insisting on the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) of which at the end of the day it was given to the North-Central.
“No opposition party is sponsoring us – we are self sponsored and if they know of anybody that is sponsoring us they should say it. They can also check my bank details to see if I am receiving funds from anybody. I only use one bank account so it will not be difficult to check.
“Nobody is sponsoring us, we are only asking for what belongs to us, we are fighting for our right. The truth is there is a zoning arrangement agreed on at the last national convention. They zoned the national chairman to the North-Central which, after the resignation of Abdullahi Adamu, they were supposed to keep the position in the North-Central but they took it to the North-West. That is our agitation.
“Remember when Abdullahi Adamu and former national secretary Iyiola Omisore resigned, they returned the position of national secretary to his (Omisore’s) zone, the South-West, in line with the zoning arrangement. Why can’t they return the national chairman to the North-Central?”