North Central Stakeholders Demand Return Of APC National Chairman Slot

A group known as Concerned Stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APC to ensure the North Central Zone regains the national chairman position which it lost after the resignation of Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

The group at a press conference on yesterday addressed by a former APC national chairmanship aspirant, Mohammed Saidu Etsu, called for the retention of the seat of the party chairman in the zone where position was micro-zoned in the North.

They insisted that the party should consider the merits of North Central regaining the office from how much acceptance the president enjoys in the zone.

The call by the group comes at a time the APC national chairman and former Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, is battling plans to remove him from office through suspension at his ward in Kano State. Kano State is in the North West geo-political zone.

But speaking at the conference yesterday, Etsu said “In the last general election, the president polledg 1,760,993 votes (41.3% of North Central votes cast) to defeat his closest rival in the zone by a margin of 345, 436 votes. The President got the required 25% votes in all the 6 states of the zone, including the FCT, and won with great  lead margin in Niger, Kogi, Kwara, and Benue states.

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“By this record, the zone gave the President the third highest votes after North West and South West. The All Progressives Congress should reflect on these factors and ensure they don’t leave a friend (The North Central) behind.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that APC in the North Central is blessed with an abundance of competent and capable individuals who parade the credentials to lead the party through its next phase as the Tinubu administration settles down to deliver good governance to the people.

“That is why we are calling on the party to be more strategic and focus on the bigger picture in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice, allow the North Central to produce the next chairman to continue the mandate given to the zone in 2022. And uphold the sanctity of Article 31.5 (I) of our party constitution.

“To our brothers in other zones, we also call you to stand by us to regain this mandate. We know that our sister-zones equally boast an array of competent and capable candidates for the position, but we have not served out our tenure; we acknowledge your qualifications and constitutionally given rights to contest. However, we ask you to join hands with us for the sake of fairness and stability of our party.

“We also call on party leaders and stakeholders to support the North Central aspiration. This would strengthen the party, unite all interests, and pave the way for a formidable APC that will consolidate its position across the board.

“Significantly, we call on people of consciences to prevail on the Party to obey the order of  High Court of Kano state restraining and prohibiting Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from presiding over the affairs of APC pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction  in order to preserve the respectability and integrity of the party as the governing party,” the group added.