In a viral audio clip, the National Chairman of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has emphasized his leadership role within the party, particularly directing his message to the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement and former governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
Ganduje made it clear that once individuals defect to the APC, he automatically assumes the role of their leader.
Speaking to APC supporters in Kano, Ganduje stressed his prominence in the party, saying, “If you are talking about APC, we are the leaders of APC; not in local government, not in state, not zones but national as a whole.
“If you are an APC membership card holder, you are a subordinate and follower of the national leader. The same thing with leaders at ward, state, and zonal levels.
“If you defect to APC today, you are our subordinate and follower. It is important for you to note this; a child of the household and a stranger are all under the care of the head of the house.”
Ganduje, who was speaking to the supporters of the APC in Kano, called on them not to panic or exercise any fear about someone coming to join them in the party.
He added: “Don’t be afraid if someone comes to your house to get one thing or the other. For you to go to his house looking for anything and for him to come to your house which one do you prefer?
“One who has what to offer is the one who welcomes others. One that doesn’t have anything to offer is the one looking for where to enter. Lend me your ears, I want to tell you a story. What is the work of the national chairman of the APC? Is it in Kano State alone? 36 states and Abuja wherever I go I am the King, I am the Sheikh, I am Modibbo, I am Alanguburo. So, same thing here at home. We are calling on the NNPP to pack those perishable fruits where they will be preserved in a fridge so that they will not get spoiled or rotten.
“We are calling on them to come back to APC. Is that a crime? One who has something is the one to beg; one who has something is the one who gives.
“As I told you people, whoever you are and your status in the party even if you are ‘Jagora’ (leader) once you come to APC then your grandfather is here!” Ganduje added.
Kwankwaso, known as “Jagora” among Kwankwasiyya adherents in Kano and various regions of the country, holds a symbolic position within the movement.
Ganduje, present in Kano since late Thursday evening, actively interacted with party stakeholders and supporters throughout the state. Following a stakeholders’ meeting, he reached out to Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and other individuals, extending a hand of fellowship with an invitation to join the APC.
However, Governor Yusuf declined the invitation, citing the absence of a formal channel of communication as the reason for rejecting the offer to switch party allegiance.