A group of North Central stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress, APC, have stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, demanding the resignation of the National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.

While addressing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, the protesters said their demand followed Ganduje’s recent suspension by a faction of his ward executives and the alleged bribery allegation levelled against him by the Kano State government.

While they chanted solidarity songs and displayed several banners some of which read, “Ganduje must resign” and “Return the APC chairmanship to North Central,” the protesters called on President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, George Akume, to consider returning the leadership of the party to the North Central.

Only on Tuesday, the Forum of APC State Chairmen had passed a vote of confidence on Ganduje, affirming their unalloyed support to him.

However, the protesters under the aegis of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders decried Ganduje’s continued stay in office, noting that it was a clear violation of the zoning principle in the party.

Leader of the demonstrators, Mohammed Mahmud Saba, disclosed that, unlike the 37 APC state chairmen, his people in the North Central have passed a vote of no confidence on the national chairman and equally demanded his immediate resignation.

Saba reiterated that the people of North Central felt betrayed when the position of APC national chairman was hijacked from them following the exit of Senator Abdullahi Adamu despite giving Tinubu the third highest votes after North West and South West at the 2023 presidential election.

He said, “We, the North Central APC Concerned Stakeholders, have resolved to unanimously agitate for our right and reclaim our mandate which was handed unto us by the National Convention of our great Party in 2022.”

The former lawmaker who represented Enugu North Senatorial District and former Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze, is dead.

He was 66 years old.

Eze, who was in the National Assembly between 2007 and 2015, died on Thursday, April 25, at an Abuja hospital after battling an undisclosed illness.

During his eight-year tenure in the Senate, Eze was a member of the constitution drafting and amendment committee that made some novel changes to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution.

After his reelection to the senate in 2011, he was appointed chairman, Senate Committee on Works.

Eze also served as a member of committees on Police Affairs, National Planning, Marine Transport and Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs.

Sen Ayogu Eze, born 23 November 1958, was elected Senator for the Enugu North Senatorial District of Enugu State, Nigeria, taking office on June 5, 2007.