Ondo Poll: Protesters Storm APC Secretariat, Ask Ganduje To Step Aside

Some concerned Nigerians have asked chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to step aside in the interest of the party.

The concerned citizens, who stormed the APC National Secretariat in Abuja yesterday said their call was informed by the need to avoid the Zamfara State episode in Ondo State governorship poll, as the party sets to conduct primaries to pick its candidate on Saturday.

The protesters said it would be an unpardonable mistake for the Zamfara State experience to occur again where all the candidates of the APC that emerged victorious in the 2019 poll lost their seats to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The protesters, under the aegis of the Guardian of Democracy and Development Initiative (GoDDI) called on Ganduje to adhere to the Kano State High Court order suspending him as a member of the party.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards brandished by the protesters read: “We don‘t want what happen in Zamfara to happen in Ondo“, “Respect the court order from Kano State to save our party in Ondo State”, “Every member of APC is competent to handle the affairs of the party, Ganduje should step aside. We don‘t want another disaster in Ondo State”.

Jointly led by Messrs Danesi Momoh and Abdulkadir Shuaibu , the protesters who read an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and addressed to the national secretary of the party, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola, argued that the continuous stay of Ganduje in office would interfere with anything that has to do with Ondo APC primary election as he lacks locus standi to oversee the party.

The protesters argued that Ganduje attempting to act as chairman of the party 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,“ they said.