Every plan to distract the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and remove him from office will hit the rocks because he would lead beyond the 2027 general elections, Elders of the party in the North-Central geo-political zone under the aegis of Concerned North-Central APC Stakeholders said on Wednesday.
According to them, the current National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC has shown capacity to lead irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political affiliations.
The North Central APC stakeholders declared their support for Ganduje during a visit to the NWC of the party in Abuja.
Ganduje, a former Governor of Kano State, thanked the leaders and members of the APC from the North-Central, adding that his leadership will not listen to those who were trying to work against the unity of the party.
He said, “I am so happy that you realise the importance of having a stable political party that is focused, ready to win election any time anywhere. There is no doubt that there is an opposition; but we believe that with your cooperation, we will not continue to listen to undesirable elements who want to see that we are in disarray. We have no place for that, we are people, politicians who are committed. We know we are forging ahead. So, we thank you for these your resolutions. We thank you for this your commitment.”
Arise News reports that the declaration came about two weeks after APC informed the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello that it has no vacancy for the position of National Chairman because Ganduje is still in charge.
The APC which was reacting to the emergence of campaign posters of Alhaji Yahaya Bello purportedly seeking to contest the position of its National Chairman.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, had stated these in Abuja while giving journalists the decision of its 141st meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
But both Morka and Bello had described the theory surrounding APC chairmanship as the handiwork of mischief makers and urged the perpetrators to desist from doing so.
“There is no vacancy in the office of the National chairman of the party. Our National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje is our chairman and he is operating as the chairman.
“So, there is no vacancy in that office. And yes, we have also seen some of those posters. This is democracy. People do what they want. But the office of the National chairman is properly and fully occupied.
“We have absolute and total confidence in his leadership of the party. Nobody is asking for that office to be declared vacant and it is not vacant. I will want to warn those who are throwing these papers around to desist from doing that”, Morka emphasized.
Also, Bello in a disclaimer issued by his Media Office, described the posters as “clandestine moves by some mischief makers to create confusion within the hierarchy of the APC.”
During an interface with the APC, a Second Republic former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, who led the delegation, expressed happiness that Ganduje’s leadership was adopting technology and innovation in the management of the party affairs.
He said, “We are from communities in Benue, Plateau, Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa, FCT, and Kwara States. We are true representatives of the leadership and members of our great Party across States in North Central Nigeria.
We have by our own free will, and as a collective of true progressives, decided to pay Your Excellency this solidarity visit because we believe this is the best time to physically express our appreciation of the great things you have been doing for our great party since you were sworn into the office of the National Chairman. Therefore, this is a solidarity visit to our respected National Chairman by party members of North Central Nigeria to ask and demand that you continue to do more for our Party.
“Of course, Mr Chairman, we are not unaware of growing calls by some elements of the party from the North Central Zone for reversal of the occupant of the office of the National Chairman based on the zoning arrangements that made Senator Abdullahi Adamu, your predecessor, who is from Nasarawa State in the North Central Zone, the National Chairman of our party before he resigned in 2023.
“While we acknowledge the efforts of these advocates of returning the Chairman’s office to North Central Zone, we however, believe that the more compelling reason for anybody to advance the manner of person that will occupy the office of the National Chairman of our party should be about consideration for track record of performance as shown in winning political contests against the opposition. Equally important is how the rank and file members of the Party are directly benefiting from the activities of the Party across the country.
“When we put all these together, we came to the conclusion that you, Your Excellency, ticks all the boxes for a performing excellent Chairman. Indeed, you’re not just a performing National Chairman but a National Chairman that had done the most in the shortest possible time to positively impact individual members of our great party while our party have also recorded impressive electoral strides bereft of rancour under your leadership.”
While passing a vote of confidence on Ganduje’s leadership, Senator Jack Tilley-Gyado, said the leadership qualities of Ganduje has been “very efficient and it’s our prayer that you keep this job and take us to 2027 and even beyond.”
He said, “For anybody or group of people to imagine that you can wake up suddenly, change the zoning formula and switch things around, I think it will spell disaster and doom, the smooth running of governments and the pattern across the country.
“You (Ganduje) are doing a great job. You run to everywhere there is crisis. Like my Senate President said that you are unbiased, you don’t have religion. As a means of governing this party, Christians or Muslims alike have equal opportunities under your leadership.
“Everybody has a sense of belonging under your leadership. Everybody is carried along under your leadership. A man like that is needed to support President Tinubu in his wonderful effort to turn things around and give us dividends of democracy in a very difficult situation that we find ourselves in this country today. You are a necessary factor in the success of administration of Tinubu. We, from the North Central come here to give you support in broad daylight. Having said that, it is our thinking that the North Central has already been taken care of in the affairs of this government. We have a very very important position, the chief scribe of this government, namely the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, His Excellency, Distinguish Senator George Akume.”
The Plateau State APC governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Nentawe Yilwatda, commended Ganduje for bringing stability to the party.
Friday Olokor, Abuja
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