The All Progressives Congress National Working Committee has stated that it will not comply with a court order restraining Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from assuming the party’s national chairmanship.
The National Legal Adviser, Prof AbdulKarim Kana, made this declaration while speaking with newsmen at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Justice Usman Malam Na’abba of a Kano State High Court, while ruling on an ex parte motion filed by certain individuals, granted an order on Tuesday restraining Ganduje from parading himself as National Chairman of the ruling APC.
The ex parte motion was filed by Dr. Ibrahim Sa’ad Esq on behalf of two executive members of the APC Ganduje ward, Dawakin-Tofa local government area, namely the assistant secretary, Laminu Sani, and legal adviser Haladu Gwanjo (plaintiffs), who were part of the nine ward executives who had suspended the former Kano state governor as a member of the party on Monday.
The APC National Legal Adviser, who insisted that those who filed the motion were not members of the party, further argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear a matter from what he described as non-card-carrying members of the party. He said, “The court has no jurisdiction on the issue.
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The persons who appeared before him are fraudsters, impersonators. One of the so-called defendants is even here with us in Abuja. The court has gone too far on this issue. We heard this afternoon that they have gone to court to obtain an unlawful order which cannot be enforced. It was obtained by fraud. The individuals who obtained the order are not APC members. We don’t know them.”
Although the court order directed “all parties in the suit APC (1st), APC National Working Committee (2nd), Kano State Working Committee APC (3rd), Dr. Abdullah Umar Ganduje (4th), to maintain status quo ante bellum as of 15th April 2024”, the APC National Legal Adviser said it was unfortunate that Justice Na’abba granted the ex parte order even without hearing from the APC, APC NWC, APC Kano State Working Committee, and Ganduje, who are the respondents in the matter.
The former Kano state governor, however, added a new twist to his suspension as he claimed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the target of the masterminds of his predicament.
Speaking when he received officials of the Kano chapter of the APC at the national secretariat in Abuja, Ganduje alleged that the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, and by extension, the New Nigerian Peoples Party were instigating his ouster as APC National Chairman to weaken Tinubu’s grip on the Northwest state ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He further claimed that the political machinations against him were aimed at diverting attention from what he called the failure of the NNPP government in Kano state. He said, “In fact, what is happening is that it is an incursion into our political party by the NNPP government of Kano in order to destroy our party.
They are so concerned that in their first year in office, they have seen their failures right from the destruction of the economy of Kano state to increased political violence and also the destruction of political morality in Kano state.
“We are battle-ready to take over their government. They are concerned that Kano produces the highest votes. They are so concerned that we will repeat the same feat for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu again. We will ensure that in 2027, there is no vacancy for any presidential candidate from Kano and from Nigeria that would win any election.
“They are out to create confusion in our party so that we will not have the courage to take over our government in Kano state. They want to ensure Tinubu does not have the intimidating votes he used to have from Kano state. We will tell them their intentions will fail, that it is impossible, that it is falsehood.
“I am assuring the President that our party in Kano is solid, it is battle-ready to keep the votes for president very high, even the highest in Nigeria.
“We have written to the IGP, the DG DSS who are handling the case because we have their pictures, names, and we know their political leanings. Some of them were captured even wearing Kwankwasiyya caps. They were so daft and insensitive that they couldn’t camouflage properly.”