FCT Polls: Clarify Comment On Non-indigenes, APC Chieftain Tells Ganduje

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr.Abdullahi Ganduje, has been asked to clarify his comment that only true indigenous members of the party in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be considered for election into public offices.

In a statement made available to journalists on Thursday in Abuja, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Lawrence Onuchukwu condemned the statement, describing it as a recipe for disaster and a setback for the party in the FCT.

Dr Onuchukwu, who is immediate-past Vice Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), said the statement was not only condemnable but also has the potential to cause discouragement to the teeming non-FCT indigenes who are members of the party.

While pointing out that politics is a game of number, he said the voting strength of non-indigenes far surpasses that of FCT indigenes resident in Abuja.

He noted that if the party relies solely on indigenes, it will fail woefully, buttressing that the 2023 presidential and National Assembly election, where sitting indigenous Senator and House of Representatives members lost to non-indigene candidates was a testament to this.

The APC non-native leader questioned the motive behind Ganduje’s statement and what he hoped to achieve by excluding non-indigenes from party benefits, demanding that Ganduje should either clarify or withdraw the statement forthwith.

He argued that the implications of Ganduje’s statement were far-reaching. If allowed to stand, it could lead to a mass exodus of non-indigenes from the party, depriving it of valuable support and votes. Non-indigenes, who form the majority of the party’s membership base in the FCT, may feel disenfranchised and disconnected from the party’s decision-making process.