Although the Presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, on Friday said the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, resigned on health grounds, Saturday Telegraph gathered otherwise.
Ganduje was said to have submitted his resignation letter as the Chairman of the party but competent sources within the party have linked the development to the excessive intrigues within the Presidency.
The former Kano governor had been feeling the heat with recent allegations of corruption levelled against him by party members.
In the same vein, the proposed movement of the leader of the NNPP, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who is said to be planning to join the APC, is also a major factor as Ganduje is said not to be comfortable with his defection and has decided to throw in the towel
Another reason given by party officials is that the President has been making underground moves to replace Ganjuje with someone from the North Central and Ganduje may have played into Tinubu’s hands with his alleged corrupt activities.
Our Correspondents gathered that President Tinubu had been recently concerned with the issues of his second term in office, and accepted the fact that Ganduje cannot influence Kano to vote for the President in 2027.
The sources also hint that Tinubu was allegedly convinced that Kwankwaso, whose movement to the APC was earlier speculated, has the required supporters the President needs to get Kano.
A high ranking source within the National Headquarters of the APC whose name was not mentioned, told our Correspondent that Kwankwaso allegedly gave conditions for his return to the APC, one which was the exit of Ganduje as National Chairman.
The source further highlighted that Kwankwaso allegedly promised Tinubu the entire structure of his NNPP in Kano including the governor will collapse into the APC, if only that Ganduje was sacked as National Chairman.
Although the issue of Kwankwaso’s possible Vice President slots was not mentioned by the source, other reliable channels hint that the issue was part of Kwankwaso’s request to President Tinubu.
Ganduje was said to have resigned as National Chairman of the ruling APC citing health grounds as his reasons.
A Kano State APC official, who spoke with our Correspondent on condition of anonymity, said it is true that Ganduje has resigned his Chairmanships of the Party and that he did so on health grounds.
“The resignation of Ganduje is true but you should know that the President cannot jeopardize the chances of his second term living in a whole zone that is supposed to occupy the position that is North Central”.
He added that, “the resignation of Ganduje is normal with Party movement to victory, this had happened to so many Chairmen right from PDP to APC itself, all the Chairman of PDP were sacked by Obasanjo, and in APC Adams Oshiomole, Adamu Abdullahi were all sacked, thank God, Ganduje resigned not been sacked, he added.
In a response to enquiries posed to Onanuga by Saturday Telegraph yesterday, Onanuga through social media messaging platform, WhatsApp wrote, “Ganduje has resigned on health grounds. President Tinubu thanks him for his service to the party and the nation.”
The presidential spokesman however refused to be dragged into the circumstances that led to the exit of the former Kano State governor from the leadership of the ruling party.
Ganduje, has reportedly resigned from his position citing health reasons for his decision and that he needed to focus on his well-being.
Efforts to get any member of the APC’s National Working Committee of the party to comment on the development proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.
Those contacted by our correspondent include the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka and the National Secretary, Senator Surajudeen Bashir Ajibola whose phones were switched off
Onanuga’s confirmation on the development was further corroborated by a post on his verified social media platform, X, of a former media aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad on Friday.
“The National Chairman of our great party, the All Progressives Congress(APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has resigned from his position, effective immediately, as confirmed by multiple sources,” Ahmad wrote.
Sources within the party however maintained that Ganduje’s decision might not be unconnected to the need to pacify members of the party who have overtime maintained that one of them should step in to complete the tenure of the former chairman, Adamu Abdullahi.
“A think the exit might be due to the intense pressure on our former chairman to give way and allow a member from the NorthCentral to complete Alhaji Abdullahi’s tenure,” the source who is a member of the national working committee of the APC who does not wish to be named said.
The source further added that the move was aimed at giving party members from that region the needed confidence and “to carry them along since the North West, where Ganduje comes from has been very taken care of in terms of appointments and distribution of government positions.
“Don’t forget that while the NorthWest secured the position of deputy senate president and that of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the NorthCentral has not been adequately compensated by the party for their support for the APC.”
While it is believed that one of the national vice chairmen of the party would step into the shoes of the former Kano governor but sources said a substantive chairman is expected to emerge at the national convention of the party scheduled for December.
