Pandemonium erupted at the national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Thursday when suspected thugs attacked some protesting members of the North Central APC midway through their protest in front of the party.
The protesters had stormed the party secretariat to demand the resignation of the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, and allow the leadership seat, previously occupied by Abdullahi Adamu to return to the North Central.
Chanting solidarity songs and displaying banners that read, ‘Return APC National Chairmanship to North Central’ and ‘Dr. Ganduje, kindly resign to face your prosecution in Kano’, the protesters appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to help influence the process of a peaceful transition of the party chairmanship seat back to their region.
But a few minutes into their protest, the procession was scuttled by suspected hoodlums who swooped on the aggrieved party members, beating them with sticks as they fled in different directions.
Addressing journalists after they regrouped a few blocks away from the party’s secretariat, Plateau State Coordinator of the North Central APC Stakeholders, Hamisu Suleiman lamented the treatment meted out to them, saying they will not be deterred until ‘justice is served.’
He said, “We came here only to be attacked by thugs sponsored by the party. They did not only beat us, they stripped us of the banners and drove our people away from the APC secretariat. Today, we are here to protest the unfair treatment meted out to people of the North Central. This is because the national chairmanship of the APC was mistakenly given to Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
“We are therefore calling the attention of our dear President Bola Tinubu to correct the anomaly. We know that he will listen to us. The APC chairman position is supposed to be zoned according to the constitution of the party and the same constitution confers the position on us. Unfortunately, it was zoned to the North West and we will not accept it.
Also speaking, Sani Jigas, who identified himself as the Nasarawa State chairman of North Central Forum, appealed to the governors of their zone to mount pressure on the president during their planned stakeholders meeting on Saturday.
“This is our mandate. It is well known to everybody. It is well known to everybody that there is a consensus at the national convention that the APC chairmanship should be zoned to the North Central. We are still agitating for that.
“We are not afraid of their thugs. We will remain here until justice is done. We are also calling on our governors because we are aware of the meeting of North Central governors and stakeholders in Lafia by next week,” he said.
Reacting to the North Central agitation, the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the party, Nze Chidi Duru, disclosed that the protesters were probably not aware of the new arrangement at the last meeting of the APC National Executive Committee in Abuja.
According to him, the highest organ of the ruling party had moved the office of the national chairman previously held by the North Central to North West while the office of legal adviser was re-zoned to North Central before the emergence of Ganduje.
He said, “I am not aware of the so-called agitation for the resignation of the national chairman by North Central people. But I am aware that at the last NEC, the party took a decision that assumed the power of a convention, which the party constitution allows to do in circumstances such as this to re-basket and re-zone the national offices. That is very important.
“So if the claim is that it is illegal and that the office of the national chairman should be resident in North Central, the only conclusion one can make is that such a claim is hinged on a very faulty foundation. To stretch that argument further, the necessary steps to take toward suspending a candidate or removing a candidate are already enshrined in the party constitution.
“One such is not by an amorphous group to come together to demand the resignation of the national chairman. The steps to take are already in our constitution and we urge this group, if at all they are our members, to go through the party constitution and advise themselves accordingly.”