Ganduje: The battles, controversies, successes of APC ex-chair

When on 3 August 2023, Abdullahi Ganduje was appointed the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), some saw the development as a saving grace for him after leading an alleged corruption-tainted administration in Kano State as its governor for eight years.

Mr Ganduje’s 22-month reign as the national chairman of Nigeria’s ruling party ended on Friday following his resignation.

Although there have been speculations in the public space about why he resigned from the top party position, the former national chairman said he did so for health reasons.

In his resignation letter, he thanked President Bola Tinubu for allowing him to serve the APC at the highest level.

Mr Ganduje, 75, was the sixth chairman of the ruling party since it was floated in 2013 following the merger of some opposition parties. He took over from Abdullahi Adamu, who had steered the party’s affairs since 2022 and through a national election.

Ali Dalori, the deputy national chairman (North), has since been appointed to lead the party in acting capacity.

Mr Ganduje’s tenure was marked by events and occurrences that shaped the ruling party positively and negatively.

Defections

Perhaps, under no other leadership of the APC in its 12 years of existence, did the party receive as many defectors as during Mr Ganduje’s leadership.

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Under his chairmanship, the APC membership expanded, and many prominent politicians streamed into the ruling party.

In the last two months, the party gained two serving governors – Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta and Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State – who joined the APC with their deputies, almost all members of their cabinets and the Houses of Assembly. They all came from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Another major catch was Ifeanyi Okowa, a former governor of Delta State, who was the PDP’s vice presidential candidate in the last national election.

The ruling party also increased its numbers in both chambers of the National Assembly. In the Senate, its membership increased from 59 at inauguration in June 2023 to 69 as of 25 June 2025.

At the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, APC currently has about 207 seats, as opposed to the 175 it had at its inauguration two years ago.

Arguably, the only prominent member the party has lost in the last two years is Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State who defected to the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Electoral victories

Under Mr Ganduje, the APC added Edo State to its kitty as Monday Okpebholo, hitherto senator for Edo Central, won the off-cycle governorship election, regaining the state from the PDP.

The former chairman also led the party to retain Kogi, Imo and Ondo states, where off-season elections occurred.

Dispute resolutions

Mr Ganduje resolved the many internal political crises in states controlled by the APC. One such state is Ondo, where disagreement between the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, almost tore the party apart.

A reconciliation committee he constituted watered down the crisis and facilitated the APC’s victory in the governorship poll.

Membership electronic registration

Under Mr Ganduje, the APC announced that it had established functional APC offices in all the 8,813 wards in the country and launched an electronic membership registration system to streamline data collection for its members nationwide.

He also initiated the proposed National Institute of Progressive Studies to educate party members and the public on democratic governance, internal party democracy, and countering hate speech.

Battles fought

Despite what can be described as his successes, internal and external opposition forces saw Mr Ganduje as an obstacle and worked tirelessly to undermine his stewardship as the APC national chair. He fought back, winning some of the fights.

North Central APC wing

Mr Ganduje was appointed the APC national chairman by the party’s National Executive Committee following the resignation of former Nasarawa governor Abdullahi Adamu. The appointment, believed to have been made at the instance of President Bola Tinubu, was disapproved by the party’s North-central wing, to which the departing Mr Adamu belongs.

Following Mr Adamu’s exit, the zone demanded to retain the position, in line with the party’s power-sharing arrangement. Mr Ganduje pacified the zone and, in February, a party forum in the zone, under the leadership of Saleh Zazzaga, passed a vote of confidence in him.

Another battle the former chairman faced was with Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper.

Although not directly linked to his office as national chairman, Mr Ganduje spent time fighting another battle in court over alleged corruption.

In 2017, the newspaper exclusively published a video showing the then-Kano governor stuffing his agbada pockets with bundles of dollar notes he allegedly collected as a bribe from a contractor. Mr Ganduje denied collecting bribes, saying the video was doctored to prevent him from securing a second term.

PREMIUM TIMES, however, confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Since he left office in 2023, the Kano State Government has been trying to prosecute him over the scandal, and a series of other corruption allegations involving him and his family members. However, the federal anti-corruption agencies have shown little interest in the cases.

Mr Ganduje has won many cases against the Kano government, with the courts shielding him from arrest and prosecution over the corruption allegations. He allegedly used his top party office to gain favour and fought his enemies. Expectedly, the allegations negatively impacted him while presiding over the governing APC.

Controversies

The gale of defections into the APC provoked many individuals and parties to raise an alarm that Nigeria was sliding into a one-party state. The PDP was one of them.

After a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC), the PDP’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, said, “Furthermore, NEC stands in firm resistance to the sinister plot by the Tinubu-led APC to turn Nigeria into a one-Party totalitarian state as evidenced in the desperate attempts to stifle and annihilate opposition parties through open siege, threats and intimidation of opposition figures and institutions of democracy in Nigeria. It is clear that this plot is borne out of APC’s mortal fear of inevitable defeat in 2027 due to its dismal failure in government.”

But Mr Ganduje did not have any qualms with the worrisome development. According to him, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria being a one-party state. He said the APC was capable of integrating all defectors into its ranks.

“We are not saying we are working for a one-party system, but if this is the wish of Nigerians, we cannot quarrel with that.”

The former APC boss added, “Leaders worried about a one-party state have no need to fear. A one-party state is not by force; it is by negotiation. It is by other political parties seeing the effect of the positive governance of our party. If they decide to come to our party willingly, I think there is nothing wrong with that,” the former APC boss said after a meeting with President Tinubu alongside some senators seeking to move to the APC.

Interference in National Assembly

In July 2024, Mr Ganduje wrote to the Senate leadership to remove Ali Ndume (Borno South) as the Senate Chief Whip after the latter’s criticisms of President Tinubu’s government.

READ ALSO: Ganduje’s resignation part of ploy to unseat VP Shettima – Borno residents

In a letter addressed to the Senate Caucus by Mr Ganduje, the APC asked Mr Ndume to resign from the party and join any opposition party of his choice.

The possible trouble ahead

With Mr Ganduje no longer holding any key federal appointments, he may become an easy prey for his foes. A recent incident in Gombe at the APC North-east zonal meeting, where some supporters thought he opposed the renomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima, added to his pyramid of political foes.

In his hometown of Kano, Amina Aliyu, a judge of the Kano High Court, assumed jurisdiction in May over the alleged misappropriation of public funds case filed against him.

The case instituted by the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission against Mr Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat, son, Umar, and five others accused the defendants of bribery, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds amounting to billions of naira.

Mr Ganduje and the seven other defendants failed in their preliminary objection challenging the court’s competence to hear the matter.

The corruption trial at the Kano court indicates that his travails are far from over.

In January, President Tinubu appointed Mr Ganduje as the chairperson of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), a position he still holds. However, that position has less political influence compared to the position of chairperson of the ruling party.

With his exit as APC chairperson, the Kano government may pounce on Mr Ganduje unless the president protects him.