A fresh move to oust the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr Abdullahi Ganduje is afoot by power brokers in the presidential villa.
It was learnt that the move would entail easing off the embattled former governor of Kano State through an ambassadorial appointment in order not to disgrace him out of office.
A source, in the know, confirmed to LEADERSHIP that the villa had actually presented the ambassadorial offer to Ganduje, with the hope that he would accept it and move on.
The source hinted that Ganduje’s delay in accepting the offer is one of major reasons why the formalised ambassadorial list has not been released.
It was further learnt that it was on the back of the aforementioned arrangement that the president gave his nod for the convening of a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for next month.
The plot is reminiscent of how former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, was appeased to vacate office in 2014 by then President Goodluck Jonathan following pressure by aggrieved governors at the time.
Jonathan, in a bid not to disgrace Tukur, appointed him Ambassador-at-Large, having earlier appointed him chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, after he (Tukur) resigned from the political office.
LEADERSHIP had on Tuesday reported exclusively on an approval by the presidency for the APC NEC meeting to be held next month.
The nod for the meeting is against the backdrop of President Bola Tinubu’s availability for the top meeting between September 6 and 19.
The NEC meeting will set the stage for the conduct of a non-elective national convention which will be held before the end of this year.
Besides being the first NEC meeting this year, it will also be the first under the national chairmanship of Ganduje.
Ganduje’s assumption of office in 2022 has been dogged by opposition from North Central party leaders who argue that he is occupying the zone’s slot against the zoning arrangement.
His situation was subsequently compounded by an alleged financial corruption probe into his administration as Kano State governor by his successor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.
An APC chairmanship aspirant in 2022, Muhammad Etsu, had filed a legal injunction to stop Ganduje from parading himself as national chairman.
He had argued for the national chairmanship seat to return to the North Central zone, as it was zoned ahead of the 2022 elective national convention.
In the build-up to the 2022 national convention, the APC had zoned the position to the North Central which saw Senator Abdullahi Adamu emerge as national chairman.
He, however, resigned in 2023 paving the way for Ganduje, who hails from North West, to become chairman.
LEADERSHIP Friday learned that some top APC federal lawmakers have also leaned on Ganduje to take the ambassadorial slot.
But another party source revealed that Ganduje had also tried to rally some close friends of the president to save his job.
He is said to have met a former South West governor and close Tinubu ally and contemporary as governor, to intervene in his case.
Meanwhile, APC stakeholders from the North Central yesterday renewed their push for Ganduje to vacate the office.
It was gathered that the plot is to replace Ganduje with former Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, who had contested the top party seat in 2022 but lost to his predecessor in Nasarawa, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Calls and text messages to Al-makura over his interest in the APC national chairmanship were not responded to as of press time.
However, in a letter addressed to President Tinubu, Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders urged the president to “resolve some of the issues agitating” their zone, “especially the issue concerning the zoning of party chairmanship back to the zone where the seat originally belongs.”
The letter was signed by a former chairman aspirant, Mohammed Estu.
It further said the “emergence of Dr Ganduje was at a severe cost to our zone which has been left high and dry. We have not been adequately compensated. The North Central zone as a collective is the party’s strongest zone politically today. Five out of the six states in the zone are controlled by the party. This is a high percentage,” the letter read.
Earlier, Estu, in a press conference, commended the president for finally initiating the “long overdue” NEC meeting and urged the President to consolidate the acceptance of APC in the zone by rewarding the hard work of party members in the zone.
He said: “But, more importantly, by ensuring that the chairmanship of the party zoned back to the North Central, the president will be ensuring that the yearlong injustice to the zone is righted.
“Since the last reorganisation of the party, all the zones were adequately represented except for the North Central which has still been left in the cold. We want to also take our seat in the comity of our peers,’’ Estu said at the meeting.
Ganduje, APC Mum Over Plans For Ambassadorial Appointment, Substitution Of Legal Adviser
Meanwhile, Ganduje has kept mum over insinuations that he has been tipped for ambassadorial appointment to leave his current position for someone from the North-Central geopolitical zone.
When contacted, the chief press secretary to APC national chairman, Edwin Olofu, did not reply to our correspondent as of the time of this report.
Similarly, the APC national publicity secretary, Felix Morka did not respond to inquiries about the development, including on plans to substitute the party’s national legal adviser position presently in North-central with a North-west occupant.
It was gathered from credible sources in the party that the President planned to return the position of APC national chairman to North-Central, hence the national legal adviser would return to North-West zone which had held the position.
Originally, Ahmed El-Marzuq, the erstwhile APC national legal adviser, had resigned from his position shortly after the party’s former national chairman, Adullahi Adamu bowed out.
Consequently, Prof. Abdulkarim Kana from Nasarawa State was appointed to fill the vacancy, the position he is holding till date.
“Part of the plan is that by the time Ganduje leaves, the position of national legal adviser will go back to North-West as another national chairman will emerge from North-Central. This will likely take place during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting expected in September,” the sources who do not want their names mentioned said.
