The national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, said the party will reapply the strategy used in Saturday’s Edo State governorship election in the Ondo State poll scheduled for November 16.
Ganduje said the same would be done in Anambra, which is presently governed by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The APC chairman stated this while speaking to members of the APC Edo election situation room on Monday in Abuja as he celebrated Senator Monday Okpebholo’s victory.
He encouraged party leaders to work hard and take all necessary measures to ensure that the APC was firmly in control of the South East geopolitical zone.
“We have started working to develop strategies to win these states. Next year, Anambra state will follow. Let me remind you that we have a project which we named political demarginalization of South East geo-political zone.
“That project is also a task that must be done. We will face southeast zone with 5 states. We already have 2, but 2 is too small for a big party like ours. We will face that state and see how we can recover many states in our favour,” Ganduje said.
In the same vein, APC elders from the North Central region, led by a former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, have voiced hope that the party will easily win the general election in 2027.
They spoke to Ganduje during their visit to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja to congratulate him on winning the High Court case that tried to remove him from his position as chairman.
The North Central APC Forum had earlier filed a lawsuit, requesting that the court rule that Ganduje’s leadership of the party violated Article 7(vii) and (ix) of the party’s constitution. The lawsuit also cited the agreement made at the 2022 National Convention in Abuja that the APC’s national chairman from 2022 to 2026 must come from the country’s North Central geopolitical zone.
Ebute said, “We feel we should be the first to come and congratulate you on your winning of the Edo governorship election for the party; for adding Edo to states controlled by the APC. We have no doubt in your ability to lead this party to a higher level.
“We are happy that the suit seeking your sack as national chairman was struck out. We are solidly behind you and we shall continue to support you to take the party to the next level. With these achievements, we believe 2027 will be a walkover.”
Similarly, a former presidential aspirant, Cesnabmilhilo Oken’oval who was part of the delegation said, “We are very happy with your leadership and we will continue to support you. 2027 election will be the greatest shock, we will cary it clear and clean.”
Ganduje, while expressing satisfaction with his victory, said: “There is no doubt that claim was baseless and was treated by the court as such. We don’t fear such baseless litigations.”
He added, “The election of Saturday is an indication that our efforts are yielding results because fighting an incumbent government is not easy.”