The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ganduje Ward of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area Monday accused the Kano state government of sponsoring elements in the ward to announce the suspension of the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
However, the government swiftly denied any involvement, labeling it an “internal crisis” within the APC.
A group led by Haladu Gwanja, who identified himself as the ward party legal advisor, announced the suspension during a press briefing held in a hotel in Kano on Monday. They cited corruption charges leveled against Ganduje by the state government as the reason for the suspension.
However, Ahmed Mohammed Koko, the chairman of the party in Ganduje ward, along with 26 executive members, distanced themselves from the suspension, stating that those who announced it were not APC members.
At a joint press conference held at the party’s state secretariat along with the Dawakin Tofa Local Government executive committee members, Koko said the purported suspension was null and void.
He said, “Those who addressed the press conference were sponsored by the NNPP 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.”
He said the party leadership has identified the persons involved in the announcement and has decided to institute a criminal charge of impersonation against them.
Speaking shortly after the press conference, the legal adviser of the Ward, Haladu Gwanjo, accused the group that announced the suspension of impersonating him.
“I was impersonated. I don’t know anything about this, but I only heard about it in the news. This is an attempt to drag me into trouble, but God is watching. I will not allow this, and I will surely seek legal action against my impersonators,” he said.
Reacting to the allegation of connivance by the state government, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, the Director General of Media and Publicity and spokesperson to the Governor, said, “We at NNPP don’t have any relationship with any internal activities of the APC in anyway. So, this crisis is between themselves, and they should sort it out without putting the blame on anybody outside their political party.
“The challenge with the APC is that they don’t understand the law. They cannot sometimes differentiate between intraparty affairs and interparty relations.
“We have no relationship directly or indirectly, formally or informally, with any crisis happening within APC in Kano or in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, when contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, did not respond to calls and messages sent to him for the official position of the national secretariat on the development. A senior official at the secretariat, who asked not to be named, however, said that since the Kano chapter has responded, the national secretariat has decided not to speak on it.
Daily Trust