From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

alleged forced resignation of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, came as a surprise to many political watchers.

Ganduje’s exit, which marked the abrupt end of an era for the hitherto ebullient strongman of APC, clearly demonstrated how slippery and transient the seat of the national chairman of the ruling party and, by extension, the opposition parties, could be.

Suddenly, the former governor of Kano State has been relegated to the dustbin of history as a ‘one-time chairman’ of the largest ruling party across sub-Saharan Africa. In every consideration, analysts say the resignation was an ugly development that many did not see coming.

Ganduje’s tenure as party chairman came to a sudden end, just after roughly 22 months in the saddle. He assumed office in 2023 to decide the fate of many political aspirants, especially during the party primaries he supervised afterwards.

Part of what heightened the confusion after his resignation was the fact that President Bola Tinubu had praised him to high heavens at an event the previous day, describing him as the envy of other political parties. He was clearly in the driving seat and totally in charge, 24 hours before his exit.

In what looked like an attempt to seal his fate and douse the curiosity of many apprehensive persons, the statement from the party’s national leadership officially confirming Ganduje’s resignation with immediate effect, addressed to the National Working Committee (NWC) through the National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru.

“The President has directed the Deputy National Chairman (North), Hon. Ali Bukar Dalori, to assume the position of Acting National Chairman, pending the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to be summoned immediately to fill the vacancy created by the resignation.

“Throughout Ganduje’s tenure, he dedicated himself to strengthening party unity and cohesion, expounding its democratic ideals and enhancing the party’s electoral competitiveness. The confidence placed in him by the party’s NEC and National Caucus meetings in February 2025 was a profound recognition and honour for his service.

“He leaves his position as National Chairman with great pride in our collective achievements, including successful defections from opposition parties and legal affirmations of our party leadership’s legitimacy. We assure all party faithful that we remain steadfast and unwavering in our mission to deliver transformative governance for all Nigerians, in line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” the statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, read.

Expectedly, the forced resignation not only came with an amalgamation of wild jubilation and saddening condemnation but also threw Buhari House, the national headquarters of the ruling party, into palpable anxiety and chilling confusion.

And having passed similar experiences previously when the same treatment was meted out to the Governor Mai Mala-Buni-led Caretaker Committee, the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led team and the Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC, all of which were unceremoniously shoved aside, the secretariat staff only stood in groups to discuss the development in hushed tones when the report spilled into the party headquarters.

The hurried evacuation of Ganduje’s personal effects, especially his portrait pictures, by his immediate personal staff further settled the curiosity of many that another end of an era had come.

Inquisitively, from the party’s national leadership, the NWC, to the secretariat staff, and by extension many leaders, chieftains and members of the ruling party, the reality of the forced resignation of their helmsman was not only a surprising development but also a bitter pill to swallow.

And like the ill-fated tenures of Mai Mala-Buni, Oshiomhole and Abdullahi Adumu, the trend of the Presidency tactically sacrificing the party’s national chairmen for strategic political reasons is becoming a tradition. And though they did not see the sacrificing of Ganduje coming that soon, they, however, knew that it was just a matter of time for him to be shoved aside.

Apart from the usual periodic speculations around the uncertainty and insecurity surrounding his position, there were, perhaps, no warning indicators before the misfortune that befell Ganduje.

He had even performed some statutory assignments the previous day with his physical presence during President Tinubu’s official visit to Nasarawa State, representing his party at the second quarterly meeting with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the late evening’s condolence visit to the governor of Niger State, Umar Bago, over the Mokwa flood disaster and the killing of 20 Nigerian soldiers by bandits.

Ganduje may not, perhaps, have had any inkling of the impending twist in fate awaiting him a few hours later that day. However, the cracks indicating his insecure future had been there and continued to widen inherently by the day, until he lost his seat after fighting tenaciously almost throughout late Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning.

The regrettable crack in the relationship between him and the APC Progressive Governors Forum, his alleged autocratic tendencies in the running of the party and the Presidency’s body language to sacrifice him in preference for his political rival, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, for the ultimate fight for the North West zone for the 2027 presidential election votes, among other alleged sundry infractions, were some of the reasons adduced for his exit.

And while the conspiracy theorists were busy speculating, his exit has already received endorsement, surprisingly, from the governors on the platform of his party who claimed that his resignation was good to move the party forward.

The communiqué by the chairman of the forum, Governor Hope Uzodimma, at the forum’s meeting held in Edo State, read: “His Excellency Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s resignation is in tandem with the party’s continued evolution. It is a strategic move within the party’s framework rather than a crisis.”

However, as Nigerians and speculators continue to ponder the unpleasant treatment given to him, many felt that Ganduje’s greatest undoing were his involvement in the protest at the North East  zonal stakeholders’ meeting in Gombe State, which centred on the refusal to endorse Vice President Kashim Shettima and the recently concluded party primary for the FCT Area Council election.

While many believed that his action in the Gombe North East stakeholders’ meeting, where he was accused of stepping on toes and infuriating certain persons and incurring their wrath, others believed that he crossed the rubicon in ruffling the feathers of the authorities that be in allegedly mismanaging the conduct of the FCT Area Council primary election last week.

Again, others have flown the kite of the Presidency using him as a sacrificial lamb to prepare for the 2027 presidential election, to pacify certain aggrieved persons and to calm the anti-Tinubu hostility spreading across the northern region.

Regardless, detractors have already started plotting to step into the vacuum Ganduje left behind, including his political friends and foes.

In the long list of persons speculated as his possible replacement are Kwankwaso, former governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, and, surprisingly, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.

But even as Ganduje has resigned to fate, what will remain indelible in the political history is that he did not leave the party controversially the same way he took over when he was confirmed the national chairman during the party’s National Executive Committee meeting held in February 2023 at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

Notwithstanding what history will record against him or whatever grudge anybody holds against the former Kano State governor, one thing that cannot be controverted is that he was, to a large extent, able bring stability and administrative sanity to the party.

The previously cantankerous, crisis-riddled ruling party, for some time, experienced peace, to the point that the usual misunderstandings and internal leadership wrangling were either suppressed or not heard at all before it being sorted out secretly.

Apart from his stringent efforts to reconcile and bring saneness to the party, Ganduje, no doubt, gave a breath of life to the party’s national secretariat, making it a beehive of activities, bubbling with human and vehicular traffic with both domestic and foreign visitors from the embassies of US, Asia, and European countries to the admiration and enthusiasm of the secretariat staff.

It is also on record that Ganduje equally established the Progressive Institute, an independent, self-sustaining global standard institute to serve as the party’s official think-tank and intellectual resource centre, in facilitating the training of party members, promoting the ideal of good governance as well as institutionalising progressive ideology.

He also did well in propelling the party to retain or reclaim many seats from opposition parties during the various off-cycle governorship elections conducted in five states of Kogi, Imo, Edo, Ondo and Bayelsa, losing only one ticket.

History will certainly remember Ganduje as the APC national chairman who recorded the highest traffic in attracting defectors into the ruling party to the point of many pundits expressing anxiety and accusing the party of plotting to turn the country into a one-party state.

He was so ferocious that he attracted the vice-presidential candidate of the foremost opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa, some state governors like Delta, Sheriff Oborevwori, and Akwa-Ibom, Umo Eno, and many National Assembly members, majorly from the Labour Party (LP) that crossed to the APC.

Assessing Ganduje’s administration in a chat with Daily Sun, Ikechukwu Madu, the National Coordinator, Booth2Booth with Bola Tinubu, noted that “during his 22-month tenure as APC boss, Ganduje worked strategically to expand the party’s influence beyond its traditional strongholds.

“He prioritised grassroots mobilisation by establishing ward-level offices nationwide and pushing for electronic re-registration to validate and grow the APC’s membership base. His leadership gave the party a renewed sense of cohesion and structure, setting the stage for broader electoral competitiveness across states previously considered battlegrounds.

“One of Ganduje’s most notable achievements was the APC’s performance in off-cycle elections. Under his stewardship, the party successfully retained control of Imo and Kogi states in the November 2023 governorship elections, despite stiff opposition.

“Perhaps, more significantly, APC reclaimed Edo State in 2024, a major political win that re-established the party’s presence in the South-South and served as a powerful statement about its national reach and appeal under Ganduje’s watch.

“The former Kano State Governor also played a central role in engineering high-profile defections from opposition parties into the APC. His inclusive leadership style and strong internal reconciliation efforts attracted key political figures, including former PDP lawmakers and party leaders. These strategic moves not only strengthened the party structurally but also energised its political machinery ahead of the 2027 general elections,” Madu said.

On his part,  the 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi said “I must commend Ganduje for prioritising his health above all else. With his health reportedly in decline, it is both wise and honourable to step aside, knowing that he may no longer be able to render the level of service required by the party, the people, and the nation. By this exemplary action, Ganduje has thrown a challenge to other leaders who, due to health-related issues, are no longer able to deliver optimally. I sincerely hope they take a cue from him.

“At this critical point and difficult time, we can no longer afford leadership defined by medical tourism, long holidays, or absenteeism caused by age-related ailments. These things are taking a serious toll on our development. May God Almighty grant Dr Ganduje a peaceful and fulfilling retirement,” he added.

Interestingly, the succession race for the position has heightened since last weekend with other notable figures like the former governors of Plateau, Senator Joshua Dariye, and Kogi, Yahaya Bello, and others like Senators Solomon Ewuga, Abu Ibrahim from Katsina and Sani Musa from Niger states, emerging as early contenders for the ticket.

Already rooting for the seat, North-Central APC Forum argued that it is high time the North- Central reclaim the position in the interest of fairness. The Coordinating Chairman of the States Youth Leaders’ Forum of the defunct CPC, Prince Sani Ogu Salisu, declared that, “by allowing the North-Central zone to lead, the APC would be reaffirming its commitment to inclusivity and regional representation, which are critical for maintaining party harmony and achieving electoral victories.”