The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ganduje Ward of Kano State has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) over an ex-parte order granted by Usman Na’Abba of the Kano State High Court, upholding the suspension of the National Chairman of the APC, Umar Ganduje, as a member of the ruling party.
The petition, dated 17 April and signed by 27 members of the ward executive, is calling for the review of the ex-parte order and the investigation of the judge over potential abuse of process.
Among those who signed it are the Chairman, Ahmad Ganduje, Vice Chairman, Auwalu Roba and Secretary, Usaini Jibrin.
According to the petition obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the excos are calling on the NJC to conduct a thorough review of the circumstances and justification behind the decision of Mr Na’abba to issue such an order.
They also asked the NJC to evaluate the adherence to judicial guidelines and the Nigerian Constitution in the context of non-interference in political party affairs.
The ward leaders also called on the NJC to “assess potential disciplinary measures if it is found that Hon. Justice Usman Mallam Na’abba acted beyond his jurisdiction or displayed conduct unbecoming of a judicial officer.”
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported that some APC members in Ganduje ward of Dawakin-Tofa LGA of Kano State suspended the party’s National Chairman, Mr Ganduje.
The party’s legal adviser in the ward, Mr Maigwanjo, alongside others, announced the suspension at a press conference in Kano on Monday.
Mr Maigwanjo said Mr Ganduje was suspended from the party to allow him to face an allegation of corruption levelled against him by the Kano State Government.
Consequently, following an ex-parte motion filed by Ibrahim Sa’ad on behalf of two executive members of the party in the ward, the court granted an order restraining Mr Ganduje from parading himself as a party member.
Also, the court ordered Mr Ganduje to stop presiding over the affairs of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC.
But in a swift response, the State Working Committee of the APC sanctioned the Ganduje ward executives hours after the suspension was announced.
The state chairman of the party, Abdullahi Abbas, announced the suspension of the executives for six months for anti-party activities.
Mr Ganduje, while he was governor of Kano State, was caught in a viral video pocketing bundles of dollars he allegedly took from a contractor.
The former governor, a close ally of President Bola Tinubu, became the chairman of the APC through the support of the president.
Reasons for the petition
The Ganduje ward excos anchored their petition on “the principle that the judiciary should not intervene in the internal affairs of a political party without clear evidence that the party’s internal mechanisms, as outlined in its constitution, have been exhausted”.
According to them, the APC constitution provides specific procedures for handling disputes and disciplinary actions within the party.
They noted that “Article 21.1(i) clearly provides for the right to fair hearing in relation to discipline of members of the Party. The complaint was never served on H.E. Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and no invitation was issued to him to attend the purported disciplinary proceedings against him”.
The excos stated that the unilateral judicial intervention by Mr Na’abba preempts these internal processes and mechanisms, potentially overstepping judicial boundaries.
They added that Mr Na’abba granted the “Ex-parte application without recourse to the fact that we had earlier issued a joint press release which was widely published in both print and electronic media, wherein we had completely disassociated ourselves from the alleged suspension of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and further stated that the perpetrators of the alleged suspension were non-APC members in the ward who were allegedly sponsored by the NNPP led Kano State government.”
Other chairman’s experiences
In the last couple of years, some national chairmen of political have lost their positions after they were suspended by their wards.
Some of them include Uche Secondus and Iyorchia Ayu of the Peoples Democratic Party (APC) both of whom were suspended by their wards in Rivers and Benue states respectively as well as Adams Oshiomhole of the APC, who suffered similar fate in his native Edo State.
