From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

Former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Kaduna State, Polycarp Gankon has dumped the party, saying that it has lost national spread and outlook.

Gankon who was a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) also noted that APGA has become regional party, failing to make inroads Northern Nigeria.

The 2015 and 2019 governorship candidate of APGA in Kaduna formally announced his resignation at a press conference, held in Kaduna on Friday.

Addressing the press conference which attended by several of his supporters, he said although he has resigned from APGA, he is yet to pitch tent with any other political party.

“It is imperative of me to call on the press conference to tell the people of Kaduna State and Nigerians our stand.

“It is my singular honor to address you on this issue. I wish to inform the entire world today of my position to resign from APGA today.

“I joined APGA in May 2014 and remained in the party for 11 years until my resignation today being May 2nd, 2025.

“What informed me to join the party was because we were looking for a party with ideology.

“If the leadership we have today in Nigeria were to be our brothers keepers we won’t be suffering today.

“When I joined APGA, there was no structure or offices in Kaduna State. I ensured offices were opened. Through hard work, I emerged as the APGA guber candidate in 2014 and 2019.

“During 2015 general elections which was my debut, I came 3rd out of 18 candidates. We contested at the tribunal; interestingly, we won the case. We ended up getting judgment instead of justice,” he said.

Explaining further, he said that in 2019 again, he contested for Kaduna gubernatorial but withdrew along the way and instructed supporters to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

” I decided to withdraw my candidature because it is not about Polycarp but about the peope and told my supporters to vote PDP, without even discussing it with PDP. Despite the fact that we told people not to vote me, they still voted and we came third,” he said.

The former APGA BoT member stressed that it is one of the best parties that had best chances to enjoy national spread in Nigeria, but it refused to expand; it remained a regional party.

“Within 2015 to 2019, APGA had 41 court cases. With the leadership tussle at present of two factions, Chief Njoku and Chief Victor Oye, there have been more than 15 court cases; up to today, there has been no resolution. It’s a party we love, but we had to leave. I was a board of trustee member. Anytime we go for a meeting with the leader of the party, Anambra Governor, we sing party anthems in Igbo language. In other words, no future for APGA in the North, except by God’s intervention,” he said.

According to him, the political journey was quite eventful, adding that “it was risky and it was challenging” .

” It was risky because in 2015, when we got judgment instead of justice, they came to me and wanted an out-of-court settlement. I said no. They tried to assassinate me three times, but God saved me. At PZ in Zaria on one of the occasions, the person that was trying to assassinate me was hit down by a vehicle with the weapon still on him,” he said.

” I am not a card-carrying member of any political party for now. What we have done is to observe for now. I have directed my followers to wait for directives as things unfold,” he said.