… As AMAC Chair, Councilors lead thousands to ruling party
By Jude Opara Abuja
Ahead of the Area Councils elections slated for February 2026, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje on Thursday claimed that more than 60% of residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are now members of the ruling party.
Ganduje spoke at a rally in Abuja when he formally received the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Christopher Zakka Maikalangu, his councilors and thousands of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) from the six area councils of Abuja into the APC.
He insisted that the FCT is too important to be left in the hands of the opposition parties.
The National Chairman added that with the latest political development, the apc is set to produce the only Senator for the FCT, two member of the House of Representatives as well as all area councils chairmen in the territory.
He said; “Ladies and gentlemen, as part of that Renewed Hope agenda, today we have started seeing that FCT will be converted to APC. Today we have a great political giant, we have the Chairman of AMAC which is the most popular local government in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The chairman with all his elected councilors, with all his appointed councilors, with all the politicians from PDP, they have decided to come to our great party, the APC. He has come with his thousands of supporters.
“Also, we have decampees from Bwari Area Council. We have decampees from Kuje Area Council, we have decampees from Abaji Area Council, we have decampees from Kwali Area Council, we have decampees from Gwagwala Area Councils.
“What remains now, almost all the politicians, all the people, more than 60% of the Federal Capital Territory is now APC, the FCT is too important to be left in the hands of the opposition political parties”, he said.
In his reaction on behalf of former APC governors, the immediate past governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello said that there is no vacancy in the Aso Rock presidential villa in 2027.
Bello added that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will overwhelming be re-elected to continue with the good work he is doing across the country.
He urged all members of the party who have one issue or the other to drop their grievances and come together and unite to make the APC virile for any electoral contest, adding that APC will soon take over all the area councils in Abuja.
“All the Area Councils will be APC, it is just a little time that it will take. Let me commend our National Chairman, let me commend the State Chairman of FCT, Alhaji Usman for all the wonderful job they have been doing.
“When I came into this arena I was shocked to see the mammoth crowd that turned out within this shortest possible time.
“Let me tell you that this mandate that Mr. President is carrying, is the mandate of the people and the people of this country have spoken and I want to assure you that come 2027, there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. I will use this opportunity once again, to appreciate all founding fathers of our party, Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu played a significant and very pivotal role in ensuring that we have a party we are all trouping to join today.
“Our former president as the first president under the platform of the APC, former President Muhammadu Buhari. He has said it time without number that he remains a father in APC and he is a member of APC.
“Let nobody mistake it that Mr. President and former President have any issue. In fact, they continue to confer in moving this country forward. So we have APC intact, I call on all other members of the party who have one issue or the other, you can’t build a house and run away from it. I urge everybody, let’s come together and unite. Other political parties are just going to escorting us to the villa come 2027.
“Come back, when you are inside APC, and you are making your demands you are talking but if you leave APC and you are outside APC and you are making demands, you are simply making noise and those of us that are inside APC we will tell you to keep quiet. Therefore, APC is the owner of Nigeria today and tomorrow,” he said.
Presenting the defectors to the party’s national leadership, APC State Chairman for FCT, Abdulmalik Usman assured that the party under his leadership will redouble its efforts towards ensuring that the party takes over the FCT ahead of 2027 elections.
Also addressing the mammoth crowd at the rally tagged; “Abuja Unity rally”, the Minister of Special Duties, Hon. Zaphania Jisalo, heaped praises on President Tinubu for living up to his promises to carry along Abuja indigenes in his government.
According to Jisalo, he is a living testimony of the commitment of President Tinubu towards the empowerment of Abuja indigene because he is an integral member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
In her remarks, the Minister of State FCT, Hajia Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure urged the electorates to continue to support the APC administration which she said is living no stone unturned in uplifting their well being.
It could be recalled that the opposition Labour Party (LP) had swept both the presidential and senatorial polls in the 2023 general elections .
