Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the party’s national chairman, received a vote of confidence from the Forum of All Progressives Congress State Chairmen on Tuesday.
During a show of solidarity, the 37 state chairmen’s delegation visited the party’s Abuja secretariat and offered their support.
The impoverished national chairman spoke out about his alleged suspension by his ward in Kano State’s Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, comparing the situation to a movie from the well-known entertainment network Africa Magic.
Wakadaily published a story last week detailing how Haladu Gwanjo, the ward’s legal adviser, persuaded certain party officials to declare the former Kano governor suspended.
The decision was made by nine executive members of the APC ward, according to Gwanjo, who attributed the alleged suspension on the bribery case filed against Ganduje and his wife.
In an unexpected turn of events, though, Gwanjo and other executive members of the Dawakin Tofa Ward Local Government went to Ganduje in Abuja and claimed that the suspension move was carried out by imposters.
After the alleged suspension action, Ganduje was immediately barred from presenting himself as the APC national chairman by an order issued by the Kano High Court on Wednesday.
The new court injunction proved to be a roadblock despite the Kano APC’s valiant attempts to reverse the decision, which resulted in the ward executive members’ instant suspension from their positions.
However, the besieged national chairman obtained another injunction from the Federal High Court, which is presided over by Justice A.M. Liman, putting the court order on hold.
Ganduje filed an ex parte motion to enforce his fundamental right to a fair trial, and this resulted in the ruling.
Cornelius Ojelabi, the chairman of the Lagos APC and interim chairman of the forum, addressed the crowd on Tuesday and declared that they fully supported Ganduje and will stand up for him in the face of outside aggression.
He said, “We are here this afternoon on just one mission. Chairman, we are here to let you know that you’re the captain of the ship.
“We are here to let you know that we are also your foot soldiers in the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and FCT.
“We are here to show our solidarity and sincere commitment to appreciate what members of the National Working Committee have been doing in standing by you, by giving you total support.
“We feel it’s important that the act of that solidarity should not be limited to members of the NWC alone. Today, we bring the solidarities from the 36 states of the federation, including FCT, to tell members of the public through the media that we’re solidly behind you.
“You have started the journey, a journey of growing our party, a journey of expanding our party, a journey of restructuring our party and a journey of making our party the one all will love. And we’re pretty sure that you’re on course.
“You kept on briefing us on every step you are taking and from what we have seen, they (alleged impostors) are not even members of our party. They are coming to derail the process of progression we are witnessing in our party. It is not in our dictionary.
“Mr Chairman, on behalf of my colleagues, I want to thank you for providing leadership and God Almighty will continue to be with you.”
The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) expressed gratitude for the gesture, but accused Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf of being the mastermind behind his alleged suspension.
Ganduje claimed that the entire play appeared to him to be “African magic.”
