Developing story: Kano APC borrows the anti-Oshiomhole forces’ playbook, suspends Ganduje

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has been suspended from the party.

The move bears similitude with the gambit deployed by some party men in the backyard of the party’s former national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to upend his chairmanship of the party in 2020.

The party men who purported to be executives of Oshiomhole’s ward had moved against him in court and secured an order suspending him [Oshiomhole].

Oshiomhole had treated the action lightly. By the time it dawned on him that it was a serious matter, it had become too late for him to rebound.

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THE CONCLAVE reports that Ganduje will not take the matter lying low, a clear indication of a titanic battle ahead: and particularly moreso as his own case is much more weightier than Oshiomhole’s case which was considered petty.

Ganduje, as learnt,  is moving to quell the internal insurrection against him, which is believed to be sponsored by some forces outside the APC in Kano State.

Reports from Kano said Ganduje was suspended by members of his ward, the Ganduje Ward in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State on Monday.

His suspension followed alleged corruption charges levelled against him by the state government.

Recall that the Kano High Court had said Ganduje would, on April 17, 2024, be arraigned on charges bordering on allegations of bribery, diversion, and misappropriation of funds, including the purported acceptance of $413,000 and N1.38bn in bribes.

The Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Haruna Dederi, who confirmed the development, said Ganduje would be arraigned alongside his wife and six others.

The accused individuals, as listed in the writ of summon, include Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Hafsat Umar, Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd, and Lesage General Enterprises.

The Kano State Government, which initiated the criminal suit against the eight respondents, declared its readiness to present 15 witnesses to testify before Justice Usman Na’aba of State High Court number four.

“It is very true. We have filed the case and it’s going to hold on the 17th of April, 2024. What I cannot confirm is whether he is served or not, but he will definitely be served,” he said.

Dederi further highlighted the significance of accountability in governance, remarking, “What he (Ganduje) doesn’t understand is that you cannot run away from the evil day, it will definitely come to you, and this will even serve as a deterrence to all of us that are also in government now.”

The commissioner also addressed the jurisdictional aspect of the case, asserting, “He was saying that we can’t prosecute him, forgetting that the offence also falls under the category of the state offences,” he said.

“It’s not totally a federal affair and we have even appealed to Justice Liman ruling on that.”