'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - A group under the auspices of APC Youth Solidarity Network had stormed the national secretariat of the party demanding that the national chairman vacates his seat.
The protesters today Thursday, April 18 stressed that Dr Umar Abdullahi Ganduje's continued stay despite court order restraining him will invalidate all exercises in the forthcoming APC primary election in Ondo state.
DAILY COURIER reports that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, was suspended by members of his ward, the Ganduje Ward in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State on Monday.
But in a joint press conference on the same day, the Ganduje Ward Chairman Ahmed Koko said: “Those who addressed the press conference were sponsored by the NNPP state government, and from the record of the party at the ward, local government, and state, are not card-carrying members of the APC”.
A statement signed by the trio of
Abdulkadir Shuaibu, Danes Momoh and Adeyeye Olugbenga reads:
"Your Excellency, we are constrained to write you to inform you about the recent events that are posing threats to our great party participating in the forthcoming gubernatorial in Ondo State.
"Your Excellency will recall that His Excellency Alhaji Umaru Ganduje having been suspended by his ward in Kano State and subsequently restrained by Kano State High Court ought to refrain from interfering ith anything that has to do with Ondo APC primary election as he lacks locus standi to do so and attempting
to act will amount to building something on nothing.
"Sir, it is important to therefore save our great party from impending doom by ensuring that all action taken so far since the suspension of the National Chairman be invalidated and the person empowers to act as the National Chairman in the face of the suspension of the National Chairman is allowed to act so that whatever is done in furtherance of Ondo Primary election will not be validated."
DAILY COURIER earlier reported that the Court, in an ex parte order issued on Wednesday, by Justice Usman Malam Na’Abba, affirmed Monday’s suspension of Dr Ganduje by members of Ganduje Ward in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State.
The court further restrained Ganduje from parading himself as a member of the APC pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
But in a swift reaction on Wednesday, the APC said the order remains “a nullity and of no effect”.
National Legal Adviser, Prof Abdulkarim Kana, who spoke with newsmen at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, maintained that the Kano High Court lacks the jurisdiction to hear a matter from non-card-carrying members of the APC on the affairs of the party.
He alleged that the court order was borne out of a desperate desire by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to undermine the prospects of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu getting a second term mandate as reasons for persecuting Ganduje in Kano state.
A senior lawyer, Okon-Obla offering a divergent opinion said: "The pertinent question is, what is the constitutionality of the suspension order placed on Dr. Danduje?
"Article 21 of the APC constitution 2013 (as amended) stipulates that subject to the provisions of the Constitution and the right to fair hearing the Party shall have the power to discipline Party members.
"The power shall be exercised on behalf of the Party by the respective Executive Committee of the Party at all levels.
"Undoubtedly, the Ganduje Ward Executive Committee is one of the respective Executive Committee of the APC that is empowered to discipline Party Members by Art 21 (1) of the APC constitution.
It, therefore, goes without saying that the suspension order on its face is constitutional. Article 21 of the APC constitution has stipulated that the disciplinary proceedings against any Party Member can be commenced it must be subject to the Constitution and the right to a fair hearing.
"The right to fair hearing is a fundamental human right enshrined and entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 (as amended). The right to a fair hearing is therefore inviolable, inalienable, and sacrosanct.
"The next level of the procedure is for the hearing and determination of the complaints or allegations against Dr Ganduje by the Ganduje Ward Executive Committee which shall not later than seven days after its reception of the complaints or allegations appoint a find fasting or Disciplinary Committee to hear the matter."