There was tension at the outer cordon of the All Progressives Congress APC national secretariat on Blantyre Street, Wuse 2, Abuja mid-Thursday, following the violent attack on a group of North Central APC members who had stormed the vicinity in protest against the National Chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
The protesters had demanded the resignation of Dr Ganduje, saying the seat ought to be occupied by someone from the North Central in accordance with the party’s zoning template.
Chanting solidarity songs and wielding placards that read ‘Return APC National Chairmanship to North Central’ and ‘Dr Ganduje, kindly resign to face your prosecution in Kano’, the protesters appealed to President Bola Tinubu to help midwife the process of returning the seat to the zone.
However, few minutes into their demonstration, the protesters had to scamper to safety after suspected hoodlums swooped on them, beating them with sticks.
Addressing journalists after they regrouped a few metres away from the party house, Plateau State Coordinator of the North Central APC Stakeholders, Hamisu Suleiman condemned the attack, saying they will not be deterred until ‘justice is served.’
He said; “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 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.”
On his part, Sani Jigas, the Nasarawa State chairman of North Central APC Forum, appealed to the governors of the zone to mount pressure on the president during their planned stakeholders meeting on Saturday.
“This is our mandate. It is well known to everybody. It is well known to everybody that there is a consensus at the national convention that the APC chairmanship should be zoned to the North Central. We are still agitating for that.