A Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has dismissed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. The suit was filed by the APC North Central Forum, a faction of the party led by Saleh Zazzaga, challenging the legitimacy of Ganduje\u2019s appointment. However, the court ruled in favor of the APC leadership, striking out the case on legal and procedural grounds.<\/p>\n
Presiding over the matter, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that the court could not grant the requests made by the APC North Central Forum, primarily because the group lacked the legal standing to file the suit. In his judgment, Justice Ekwo noted that the forum is “not a juristic person and not registered in law” and therefore lacks the legal capacity to bring a case before the court.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Justice Ekwo pointed out that the group failed to exhaust the party\u2019s internal mechanisms for conflict resolution before seeking judicial intervention. According to the judge, parties involved in disputes over party leadership must first seek resolution through the channels established within the party structure before escalating the matter to the courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe appointment of officers for the APC by its National Executive Committee (NEC) is an internal affair of the party, which no court can interfere with,\u201d Ekwo stated, reinforcing the notion that political parties are allowed autonomy over their internal administration, including appointments to leadership positions.<\/p>\n
The case was filed in reaction to the appointment of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the APC National Chairman, which the North Central Forum contended violated Article 13 of the APC Constitution. According to the group, Ganduje\u2019s appointment did not follow the democratic process outlined in the party\u2019s guidelines and was, therefore, invalid. The group argued that the process lacked transparency and did not involve a vote by the party\u2019s stakeholders.<\/p>\n
This legal challenge is part of a broader discontent within the APC\u2019s North Central zone. Leaders in the region have voiced their dissatisfaction with Ganduje\u2019s appointment, arguing that the position of National Chairman should have been retained by the North Central following the resignation of the former chairman, Abdullahi Adamu. Adamu, who hails from Nasarawa State in the North Central, left office before completing his tenure, sparking calls for his replacement to come from the same region to maintain a balance of power within the party.<\/p>\n
Some North Central APC chieftains have even threatened to withdraw their support for President Bola Tinubu’s second-term bid unless the national chairmanship is returned to their region. They argue that the North Central has been sidelined in the party\u2019s decision-making process and that retaining the chairmanship position is crucial for their continued political relevance.<\/p>\n
Despite these grievances, the APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) chose Ganduje, the former Governor of Kano State from the North West region, as its new chairman. Ganduje, a long-time ally of President Tinubu, was seen by many within the party as a stabilizing figure capable of unifying different factions ahead of the 2027 elections. His appointment has been widely viewed as a strategic move by the party to strengthen its leadership as it navigates post-election governance challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has dismissed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. The suit was filed by the APC North Central Forum, a faction of the party led by Saleh Zazzaga, challenging the legitimacy of Ganduje\u2019s appointment. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-49494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49495,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49494\/revisions\/49495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}