There are indications that key actors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North Central zone have kick-started moves to regain the party’s national chairmanship.
While the incumbent national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who emerged from the last National Executive Committee (NEC meeting of the party, is barely a year in the saddle of affairs, indications have emerged that some bigwigs of the party from the North Central zone, the zone of his predecessor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, have already started mobilising to get other zones to help drive the agenda.
Ganduje, a former two-term governor of Kano State, emerged as the APC national chairman on August 3, 2023, after his predecessor, Adamu, was edged out following an internal crisis within the party, which many attributed to his (Adamu) initial opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
He emerged amidst protests following the edging out of the North Central zone, which was supposed to produce another chairman.
Sources in the APC confirmed to Daily Trust that some stakeholders in the North Central felt cheated following Ganduje’s emergence as the party’s helmsman and were in talks with aggrieved bigwigs from other zones to cut short his tenure.
They hinged their dissatisfaction on the party’s constitution, which they said provided that Adamu’s replacement ought to have come from the North Central, where he hails from, especially considering that he was forced to resign before the end of his tenure.
Sources hinted that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, whose tenure of 8 years would elapse before the end of this month, was one of those eyeing Ganduje’s position from the North Central zone and scheming to succeed him.
One of the sources said: “The president, aside his personal affinity with Ganduje, sees him as a very loyal and dependable political ally who can deliver not just the party’s ticket for him for 2027 but also the figures needed to retain the seat.”
A chieftain of the party, Jackson Lekan Ojo, who spoke on the record to one of our correspondents, confirmed that it was no longer a rumour that some forces in the APC were scheming to oust the APC helmsman but insisted that should these forces make good their scheming, Ganduje and the president may not be able to resist them.
He said, “It is very true. If the public sees it as a rumour, it is no longer a rumour. There are heavy moves to oust Ganduje. The appointments were lopsided. The North West, where Ganduje comes from, got the two ministers of defence. That same zone got the deputy senate president. The same zone got the speaker of the House of Representatives. It equally got the national chairman of the party.
“Ab initio, there were a lot of controversies. A lot of persons and personalities, principalities and powers in the APC, Ganduje was not their choice candidate. Ganduje, was like, imposed by Mr. President because of the political relationship between them. Mr. President himself should be able to sacrifice Ganduje now, if he is to become a stumbling block to him in 2027.”
He added, “Ganduje has no capacity to resist this. Right from the beginning, he was imposed by Mr. President, and an imposition that does not carry a lot of people along will not last. Abdullahi Adamu was imposed by the former president. Did he last? Omisore was imposed. Did he last? So let’s watch out.”
Another source, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The game plan is to force Ganduje out of office before the next general elections. Plans are already on to force him out. Nothing is impossible in politics. You can’t rule this out.”