Elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the six states of the North Central geopolitical zone have thrown their weight behind the choice of former Kano State governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, as the next national chairman of the party.
The elders under the auspices of Middle-Belt APC Elders applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) for endorsing Ganduje, saying his leadership capacity, commitment and experience to lead the party well was taken into consideration before taking that decision.
The elders and other prominent APC leaders across the zone were led to a press conference on Friday in Abuja by the former military governor of Plateau and Katsina States, Maj Gen. Lawrence Anebi Onoja (rtd).
Addressing the press conference, Maj Gen. Onoja noted that there is a vacuum in the leadership of APC party which needs to be filled, following the resignation of the former chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu, hence the choice of Ganduje.
He said, “It is not surprising therefore that since the Progressives Governor’s Forum endorsed and announced Ganduje’s candidature, many political interest groups have similarly endorsed him to lead the party in an acting capacity.
“We as representatives of elders of the party from North Central Zone are here today in continuation of the series of endorsements of Abdulahi Ganduje. We represent different elder’s groups of the party in the zone.
“Of the series of endorsements, ours is one of the most significant because we are from the same geo political zone with the former National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu who resigned recently.
“We are concerned with merit, quality and continuity in leadership for our party, We are in no doubt Ganduje will play that chairmanship role very effectively in the an acting capacity.
“For these reasons, we hereby collectively endorse him to chair our great party to continue where Abdullahi Adamu stopped in steering the ship of the party until substantive leadership positions are filled at the next convention in line with the party’s constitution.”
Onoja implored all members of the governing party to share the same sentiment with them, stating that Ganduje was going to hold the chairmanship position in acting capacity pending the when the party would convene a national convention to elect a substantive national chairman.
“We implore all concerned and the media to share in our collective desire for him to succeed, for the party to succeed and for the interest of Nigeria,” he said.
