On Wednesday, a Kano State High Court affirmed the suspension of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.
The court in an ex parte order asserted the suspension of Ganduje and restrained him from parading himself as the National Chairman, as well as a member of the party.
The court also ordered, that henceforth, Ganduje should desist from presiding over all affairs of the National Working Committee, NWC, of APC.
The order followed an ex parte motion filed by Dr. Ibrahim Sa’ad Esq on behalf of two executive members of APC Ganduje ward, Dawakin-Tofa local government area.
They included the assistant secretary, Laminu Sani and the legal adviser, Haladu Gwanjo (plaintiffs) who were part of the nine ward executive members who suspended Ganduje two days ago.
The nine APC executive members said they were prompted to act following a petition written by one Ja’afaru Adamu, a member of the APC from the National Chairman’s polling unit in which he complained over allegation of corruption charges against the former Governor, urging the ward leaders to investigate the matter to redeem the dented image of the party and the implication on President Bola Tinubu’s fight against corruption.
Ganduje’s alleged suspension was announced by the ward’s legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, while addressing newsmen in Kano on Monday.
Gwanzo accused the former governor of “gross misconduct and misappropriation of public funds during his administration in Kano,” citing allegations of bribery against Ganduje by the Kano state government as the reason for the suspension.
He said: “We resolved to pass a vote of no confidence on the National Chairman of the party due to his inability to clear his name from allegations of corruption, particularly the ‘dollar video’ that went viral.
“The APC leaders in Ganduje Ward are worried that the party is being subjected to unnecessary embarrassment from the rival New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) over unsubstantiated allegations of corruption levelled against Ganduje’s administration.
“Ganduje ward leaders deem it fit to suspend the national chairman to enable him concentrate on the litigation and other hanging issues so that he could appropriately clear his image and that of his family.
“President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to the ongoing fight against corruption has made it necessary for Ganduje to deal with the seeming baggage of corruption hanging on his neck as it is already denting the reputation of the APC-led federal government.
“We, the leaders of the APC in Ganduje Ward, after thorough deliberations, decided to suspend the chairman to give him time to clear his name.
“Since Ganduje has been summoned to answer for these accusations, we are being proactive as it could potentially affect the reputation of our political party.”
However, a short-lived reprieve came to Ganduje’s way when the suspension was countered by the Kano State Working Committee (SWC) of the APC, which slammed drastic measures against those who announced the suspension.
The state chapter of the party described the suspension of the National Chairman by Ganduje Ward of the party as illegal, null and void.
It also announced immediate suspension of the Ward Executives for their action, which it termed as a manipulation from outside.
Also, the APC national headquarters at Abuja said Ganduje remains the party’s national chairman.
The spokesman of the APC at the national level, Felix Morka, who spoke on behalf of the party, described the move as “criminal” and insisted that Ganduje remains the party’s chairman.
However, the party’s stand might likely change following the recent order by the Kano High court affirming Ganduje’s suspension.
Before now, the ex-governor’s camp had accused the state government of masterminding the suspension.
Reacting to his suspension and subsequent affirmation by the court, Ganduje claimed that the move to suspend him from office was orchestrated to starve President Bola Tinubu of Kano votes ahead of the 2027 election.
He made the revelation when he received a delegation of 27 executive members of his ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
Ganduje told the delegation that his investigation has revealed that the arrows of persecution against him were coming from the camps of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, and the Governor of Kano, Abba Yusuf.
But speaking on the matter, a Kano-based legal practitioner, Wangida Isa, said Ganduje should honourably resign as the National Chairman of the APC till he clears the corruption allegations against him by the state government.
He dismissed claims that the NNPP planned Ganduje suspension through some APC executives at the ward level.
The lawyer spoke on Tuesday when appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s programme.
Isa said that ward executives were legally empowered to sack any member of the party, insisting that the allegations against the ex-governor were “heavy offences”.
He also stated that Ganduje has not been exonerated as the court said he should be tried at a federal court because the money laundering offences levelled against him by the state government was a federal offence.
Fresh from the suspension, the anticipated arraignment of Ganduje was stalled on Wednesday due to the Kano State Government’s inability to serve criminal charges against him.
The move to arraign him has created palpable fear and uncertainty in Kano.
According to the court documents, Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat Ganduje, his son, Abdullahi Umar and five others, were slated to face eight counts including $413,000 bribery allegation, as well as the alleged diversion and misappropriation of funds amounting to N1.38bn.
The state government said it had assembled 15 witnesses to testify against them.
The Chairman of the Commission, Muhuyi Magaji, who announced the development, said investigations uncovered the diversion of N51.3 billion from local government funds to unauthorised individuals during Ganduje’s tenure.
Magaji alleged that the Ganduje administration withdrew N1 billion monthly from state coffers before its tenure ended in May 2023, purportedly for road renovation, but diverted to Bureau de Change operators instead.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday, Magaji also cited a case involving N4 billion transferred to an agricultural company from Kano’s consolidated revenue account.
“What is happening now is a tip of the iceberg. As I am talking to you, we are investigating a case whereby N51.3bn local government funds were directly taken from the government coffers (and) sent to other individuals, and we traced it to people.
“We have filed a series of cases. We have a case whereby N1bn in April last year (2023) was removed from government coffers under the allocation of renovating 30 roads in the metropolis, and it was taken away and sent to Bureau de Change.
“We have a case of N4bn whereby it was sent from the consolidated revenue account of Kano State to an agricultural company. All these cases are before the court,” he said.
Magaji said though he was appointed by Ganduje to head the agency, he won’t hesitate to prosecute alleged corruption by the immediate-past administration in the state.
According to him, he started probing Ganduje when he was governor of Kano State.
The APC national chairman is not new to allegations of corruption.
Recall that as governor of Kano State, a video clip allegedly showed Ganduje stuffing his pockets with bales of dollars suspected to be kickback from contractors.
The video was allegedly released to the public in October 2018 by the Publisher of Daily Nigerian, Mr. Ja’afar Ja’afar.
Speaking to newsmen, the Kano State Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Hashimu Dungurawa, said that the State government has no hand in the ill fated suspension of the ex-governor from the APC.
Dungurawa, however, said the APC ward executives that announced the suspension of the APC National Chairman did a good job.
According to him, they were bonafide members of the APC and not NNPP, adding that their records were with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, including the party’s headquarters.
Dungurawa further urged the APC to purge itself of individuals like Ganduje, saying his types were creating a bad image for the party.
Recall that Yusuf, who emerged governor of the state under the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, in 2023, had on assumption of office accused Ganduje of misappropriating public funds and allocating plots of land to some members of his immediate family.
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