Suspected thugs on Thursday attacked some protesting members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the North Central who stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to demand the resignation of the Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
The protesters under the aegis of North Central APC Stakeholder were with various placards with inscriptions like: ‘Dr. Ganduje, kindly resign to face your prosecution in Kano’ ‘Return APC National Chairmanship to North Central’, demanded that the position of the chairman be rezoned the North Central which initially occupied the position.
Against this background, the protesters called on President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, to help influence the process of a peaceful transition of the party chairmanship position back to zone.
Surprisingly, during the protest, suspected thugs pounced on the protesters and gave them a thorough beating, forcing them to run in different directions.
Plateau State Coordinator of the North Central APC Stakeholders, Hamisu Suleiman, while addressing journalists after they regrouped a few blocks away from the party’s secretariat, decried the taack on them, insisting that it was their right to protest and nobody can deny then that.
He maintained that the protest would continue until justice is done to the people of North Central.
Suleiman stated: “We came here only to be attacked by thugs sponsored by the party. They did not only beat us, they stripped us of the banners and drove our people away from the APC secretariat.
“Today, we are here to protest the unfair treatment meted out to people of the North Central. This is because the national chairmanship of the APC was mistakenly given to Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
“We are therefore calling the attention of our dear President Bola Tinubu to correct the anomaly. We know that he will listen to us.
“The APC chairman position is supposed to be zoned according to the constitution of the party and the same constitution confers the position on us. Unfortunately, it was zoned to the North West and we will not accept it.
“We are here for justice and justice must be served. I am calling the attention of all the stakeholders of the party to return our mandate. This is why we are protesting here today. It is our right and nobody can take it away from us.”
Reacting, the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the party, Nze Duru, said he was not aware of the so-called agitation for the resignation of the national chairman by North Central people.
He explained that the highest organ of the ruling party had moved the office of the national chairman previously held by the North Central to North West, while the office of legal adviser was re-zoned to North Central before the emergence of Ganduje.
Duru noted: “I am not aware of the so-called agitation for the resignation of the national chairman by North Central people. But I am aware that at the last NEC, the party took a decision that assumed the power of a convention, which the party constitution allows to do in circumstances such as this to re-basket and re-zone the national offices. That is very important.
“So if the claim is that it is illegal and that the office of the national chairman should be resident in North Central, the only conclusion one can make is that such a claim is hinged on a very faulty foundation. “
The party chieftain pointed out that the necessary steps to take toward suspending a candidate or removing a candidate are already enshrined in the party constitution.
He said one such was not by an “amorphous group” to come together to demand the resignation of the national chairman, adding that the steps to take are already in the party’s constitution and urged the group, if at all they are members of the party to go through the party constitution and advise themselves accordingly.