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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Fresh tension is gradually beginning to build up over the future of the National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, barely six months after his inauguration and assumption of office.
For some persons, there is still nothing untoward or any reason to press the panic button in the battles he is currently fighting to continue to superintendent over the affairs at the Buhari House secretariat. Perhaps, it is the usual skirmish normally experienced in every political setting composed of human beings.
In retrospect, after the initial expected hostilities against his emergence last year, the administration of Umar Ganduje as national chairman of the ruling party has been indisputably on a rollercoaster.
Little or no distractions have been recorded, the usual attacks and accusations of financial recklessness, administrative high handedness, ineptitude, draconian tendencies and other familiar allegations usually levied against some of his predecessors have not reared their ugly heads.
However, most recently, seen and unseen forces seem to have started building up and threatening his capacity as the party chairman.
The first noticeable threat was the loss he suffered at the Supreme Court in the Kano State governorship election appeal petition. It was a judgment that came totally unexpected after securing victories earlier at the two lower courts which gave a false sense of hope to the APC that it can reclaim the position from the rave of the moment, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
In the words of many political watchers, it was such a devastating heavy blow that literally decapitated his confidence level to the point of doling a technical knockout against him and his political structure.
He was lucky that only an insignificant force rose up against him to demand his resignation for failing the party in the legal battle. If he has actually recovered from the shock wave the loss inflicted on him, it only showed in his avoiding making any serious utterance, especially in the media, on the final outcome of that litigated governorship election petition unlike his wild celebration during the double victories he secured at the lower courts.
But, probably convinced that the best time to soften the iron is hitting it hard while it is still very hot, two incidents chained up to pin Ganduje on the floor he unfortunately found himself after the Supreme Court judgment against the party under his watch.
The first was the fresh misunderstandings and escalation of the political battle between him and his estranged godfather, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. And the second, which seemed to be more threatening, was the alleged renewed deft moves by the APC North Central stakeholders to shove him aside and possess their possession by reclaiming the party’s headship position statutorily zoned to the region.
And perhaps rattled by the reports that President Bola Tinubu is planning to reconcile him and Kwankwaso as part of the build up to the 2027 presidential election, Ganduje had played into their hands and stirred up the hornet’s nest by reminding and warning Kwankwaso that he will definitely be his grandfather if he decides to return to the APC.
While addressing his supporters at an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Kano state recently, Ganduje said: “If you are an APC membership card holder, you are a subordinate and follower of the national leader.
“If you defect to APC today, you are our subordinate and follower. It is important for you to note this; a child of the household and a stranger are all under the care of the head of the house.
“One who has what to offer is the one who welcomes others. One that doesn’t have anything to offer is the one looking for where to enter. Lend me your ears, I want to tell you a story.
“36 states and Abuja wherever I go, I am the King, I am the Sheikh, I am Modibbo, I am Alanguburo. So, same thing here at home.
“We are calling on the NNPP to pack those perishable fruits where they will be preserved in a fridge so that they will not ‘get spoiled’ or rotten. As I told you people, whoever you are and your status in the party even if you are ‘Jagora’ (leader), once you come to APC, then your grandfather is here!” Ganduje said, apparently directing his attacks to Kwankwaso popularly called Jagora by the Kwankwasiyya members in Kano and other parts of the country.
Ever since drawing that battle line, his comments, in what looked like a trigger, have continued to generate endless attacks, especially among the supporters of the two Kano political gladiators.
In what looked like a battle royale, the first ferocious attack on Ganduje came from a chieftain of the NNPP, Buba Galadima, who accused him of harbouring hatred for the people of Kano State, alleging that he wants to destroy the state because of his hatred.
Featuring on a television programme recently, the NNPP chieftain claimed that the APC national chairman is aggrieved that Kano people rejected him in 2019.
He said: “The people were speculating that the president had a say in the judgment of the Supreme Court, there is no actual reason for Abba Yusuf’s victory to be taken away from him except the judiciary is compromised.
“We won our election square and even in 2019, Abba Yusuf won Ganduje in that election; and that was the reason for Ganduje’s hatred for Kano people. That is why he wanted to destroy Kano because he felt they rejected him during that election; therefore he would visit mayhem on them.
“He wants to take over Kano by force, not minding who is killed or displaced. The importance of that judgment is that it has uplifted the image of the country, those who thought they would take over Kano believed that Nigeria would not be the same by now.”
Galadima did not stop at those hurting utterances in his determination to take the fight to Ganduje’s doorstep as he also accused him of insincerity and making jest of President Tinubu.
“Ganduje is wise by half, he ridiculed the President by going to the press on Kwankwaso joining the APC. Even if that is what the President told him to do, he knows the best way to go about it. Ganduje never wanted to reconcile with Kwankwaso and never wanted him to join the APC; he is just fooling the President to scare Kwankwaso away.”
Trust the gladiators and their supporters over who will blink first; they have deployed every armament at their disposal into the battle. So, shortly had the missile fired by the Kwankwasiyya apostle hit the target, did an aide to Ganduje fire back.
In his reply, Senior Special Assistant on Public Enlightenment to the APC national chairman, Oliver Okpala, dismissed the allegation that his boss harbours hatred for the people of Kano State.
In a statement he issued last week, he claimed that Galadima’s comments was “a wrong narrative and misinterpretation of Ganduje’s stance as far as Kano politics is concerned.”
He accused Galadima of always being controversial, and advised him to be a “statesman preaching for peace, love and unity to reign in the country’s political space.”
While accusing him of creating bad blood between Ganduje and the people of Kano as well as the leadership of the NNPP, Okpala said: “What Ganduje said in Kano to his teeming supporters and lovers was very simple.
“Ganduje, who spoke in Hausa language, reminded them of the need to be loyal, law abiding and supportive of their party irrespective of the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment. He stressed his commitment as the national chairman of the APC; to lead the party with peace, love, decorum and dignity.
“One therefore wonders if Galadima’s interpretation of what Ganduje said in Hausa was from Greek language which has no similarity with Hausa language or mere mischief. Galadima should now be acting and speaking like a father as an elder statesman so that the younger generation would look at him as a centre point for political wisdom.
“He should learn from elder statesmen like Ganduje who speaks with great wisdom, dignity and love for the county. Galadima should be reminded that the people of Kano State love and cherish Ganduje as political leading light and no amount of blackmail against him can change this. It is time for our elder statesmen to embrace the path of political rectitude so that they can bequeath to the younger generation, a clean political space ganished with peace, love and unity.”
As if the clash of the titanic forces were not enough to distract and threaten Ganduje’s position, only last week, campaign posters of the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, indicating interest to unseat him at the Buhari House, had flooded the national secretariat of the party and its environs.
The posters entitled; Next level, Bello, APC national chairman, leading the change, building a strange APC; was immediately interpreted as a renewed determination by the party’s North Central stakeholders to reclaim the position statutorily zoned to the region.
To confirm that the message was well delivered, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, while reacting formally to Yahaya Bello’s campaign poster, warned that there was no vacancy at the Buhari House.
He said: “There is no vacancy in the office of the national chairman of our party. Our national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje is operating as the chairman. So, there is no vacancy in that office.
“Yes, we have also seen some of those posters. This is democracy. People do what they want. But, make no mistake because the office of the national chairman is properly and fully occupied. And we have absolute and total confidence in his leadership of the party.
“Nobody is asking for that office to be declared vacant and it is not vacant. I will want to warn those throwing these papers around to desist from doing that. That is not our priority right now.
“We need to concentrate on the job that needs to be done to solve some of the problems that will make our country a better place for all of us. There is no plan for any mini convention as speculated,” he warned.
Again, disassociating Bello from the campaign posters, a statement from his media office read: “We are aware of the clandestine moves by some mischief makers to create confusion within the hierarchy of the APC. This is the handiwork of some opposition leaders and some fifth columnists within the party.
“Part of the plans already hatched is the circulation of campaign posters with the picture of Yahaya Bello, insinuating that he is contesting for the position of the national chairman of the APC. The insinuation is infantile, false, and should be disregarded.
“Our party is not in the process of conducting congresses or a convention, therefore, there is absolutely no basis for anyone to circulate any campaign poster for party office.
“Let it be made abundantly clear that Bello did not authorise anyone to circulate any poster on his behalf as he remains a loyal party man, committed to the leadership of the national chairman of the party, Ganduje. We urge members of the public to disregard the mischief of the people circulating posters to create a false impression,” the statement read.
Interestingly, both the national leadership of the party and the former governor may have dismissed and sworn that there was no motive behind the trending posters but it has sent a negative signal that the plots to unseat Ganduje is gaining traction gradually.
However, weighing in on the whole imaginary plots targeted at Ganduje, a member of the party’s national leadership, the National Working Committee (NWC), admonished his chairman against going too deep into Kano State local politics to avoid a recurrence of the incident that wrecked the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led administration.
Speaking to Daily Sun in confidence, the NWC member noted: “I won’t lose any sleep over what you called renewed onslaught by the North Central stakeholders to reclaim what they said rightly belongs to them.
“They could not do anything when they were supposed to and if I may ask, where was Yahaya Bello even as a serving governor then, when that position was contended? By way of advice, I want to reecho the position of the national leadership that there is no vacancy in the headship of the Buhari House.
“However, the aspect I expected our national chairman to apply wisdom and caution is in the level of his involvement in Kano State local politics. Yes, they may say that he has no political base as the party’s chairman but I also know that history has proved over the years that such involvement usually turns out to be the greatest undoing to many party chairmen.
“In case Ganduje has forgotten so soon, what happened to Comrade Oshiomhole due to his involvement in Edo State’s local politics, should be a painful reminder to any party chairman to learn from that avoidable mistake. Agreed that politics is local but since nothing serious is at stake for now, our chairman should temporarily stay off Kano local politics.
“Enemies within, especially at home, have always been the albatross for most national chairmen of political parties in Nigeria. So, this is the time to tread with caution if he wants to remain relevant and retain his position. He should pay little passing attention to local politics and concentrate on the activities at the national level.”
