There were indications yesterday that former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, may officially be declared as national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) rescheduled to hold Thursday, August 3, 2023.
The party’s National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday slated the NEC meeting to hold a day after its national caucus fixed for Wednesday August 2, 2023.
Acting national secretary of the party, Barr Festus Fuanter, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
The meetings which was initially billed to hold in July were shifted following a leadership crisis that led to the resignation of the party’s erstwhile national chairma, Abdullahi Adamu, and national secretary, Iyiola Omisore.
No sooner had the duo resigned their positions than the news broke that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors on the platform of the APC have endorsed immediate Ganduje as replacement for Adamu.
LEADERSHIP, our sister publication, had last week Wednesday reported that with the development, it is likely that the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc which produced former President Muhammadu Buhari may have again taken a back seat in the scheme of things in the party’s leadership.
The paper had also reported on Tuesday that former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who is an ardent member of the CPC bloc, and Senator Sani Musa from Niger State were being considered as possible replacements for Adamu.
It was however learnt that despite pressure on him to retain the chairmanship position in the North Central, the president settled for Ganduje, “apparently to pacify the North West zone which had insisted on producing the Senate President of the 10th Assembly.”
It was also gathered that four APC governors, including chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma; his Kwara State counterpart and two others led Ganduje to meet with Tinubu at the presidential villa
At the meeting, the president was said to have briefed the former Kano governor of the plan to make him APC national chairman, instead minister as earlier planned.
Ganduje who had made Tinubu’s ministerial list was asked to nominate someone as his replacement from Kano State.
The news of Adamu and Omisore’s resignation broke on Sunday night but was not confirmed until Monday after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting of the party.
