APC: ‘Dead On Arrival’- Opposition Swells Against Ganduje As Al-Makura Tipped To Emerge National Chairman

President Bola Tinubu may prefer former Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Mukara as the next National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, THE WHISTLER has learnt.

A reliable source within the presidency hinted that Tinubu has decided to stick with Al-Mukara having failed in 2022.

The president, then APC National Leader had preferred Al-Mukara but was beaten to it by the hawks around President Muhammadu Buhari, who foisted Abdullahi Adamu on the party as national chairman.

Tinubu regards Al-Mukara as a loyal political partner “who can be reliable” and is “respected”, the source explained noting that the president does not want to further aggrieve the Northcentral after what transpired during the race for the principal offices in the national assembly.

Political stakeholders in the Northcentral had aligned with Adamu in the opposition to the preferred candidates of the president.

But a key factor in Tinubu’s decision to stick with Al-Mukara is his contribution to his election in February despite being from the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

Also, he has “remained a constant supporter of the president” with both “sharing mutual respect”.

It was gathered that the president’s associates are aware and they are in support.

This is as opposition within the APC has risen against the rumoured interest of former Kano State governor, Umar Abdullahi Ganduje.

Some members of the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee have moved against the purported interest of the former Kano governor saying his “interest is dead on arrival.”

Apart from opposing Ganduje for not having the political weight to wield the party together, they said it will distort the zoning arrangement, upset the principle of equity and cause far bigger problems than is already on ground.

Another aide to the president explained however that “nothing is certain yet but he’s always been the president’s choice.”

He denied the president had endorsed Ganduje noting, “It’s not true Ganduje is favoured or that the president would easily upset the zoning arrangement.

“We are not going into another round of election where everybody will contest into NWC, no. We have a constitution on how that’s done.

“We are just holding a NEC meeting. In order to ensure there’s peace and harmony, the existing zoning arrangement would be allowed to stay.

“That’s the position of the president except if there would be a last minute change.”

According to an NWC member, Salihu Lukman, “many of the speculators do not share the commitment to either restore constitutional order in the party or return the party to its founding vision of returning to the path of progressive politics,” he said on Thursday.

He added that, “If anything, some of the speculations, if true, will reduce to nonsense the decision to have a change of leadership, which means that no lessons have been learnt from all the circumstances of the last few years since the emergence of APC as a political party”, he stated.

He explained that, “Already, part of the speculation emerging from the Governor’s bloc is that Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is being considered to succeed Senator Abdullahi Adamu. If this is true, it only suggests insensitivity and taking members of the party for granted. This is without prejudice to the person of Dr. Ganduje.

“This is because such a choice will completely distort the zoning arrangement that informed the present configuration of the leadership of the National Assembly. With the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Deputy Senate President coming from North West and North Central shut out of consideration, to propose the party’s National Chairman move to North West from North Central will be unjust and almost political suicide.

“We must caution our Governors that since the emergence of APC, Governors have served almost as the conscience of the party. Any consideration for such an insensitive and unjust consideration of Dr Ganduje to become the National Chairman of APC must be discarded.

“If anything, the position of National Chairman of the APC must be retained in North Central. Part of the challenge of managing the current transition within the party is getting the NWC to properly take the driving seat in managing and facilitating negotiations to produce and engage leaders of the party. The NWC must sit up and guide the unfolding negotiations. No single power bloc should be allowed to appropriate the process.

“This is where the intervention of the President, being the leader of the party, would be required to moderate the excessive conduct of any power bloc, especially when such conduct risks further damaging the prospect of returning the APC to its founding vision.

“At these early stages of President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s leadership of the party, he needs to make a strong intervention to guide the process of restoring constitutional order and returning the APC to its founding vision of progressive politics. Progressive politics must be about inclusion and justice and not some blind and insensitive considerations”, he added.

On what he expects to be done, “First, restoring constitutional order in APC is basically about complying with extant provisions of the party’s constitution.

“A situation whereby the National Chairman usurped the powers of the National Working Committee NWC and all organs of the party is unacceptable.

“All organs of the party, namely, National Advisory Council NAC, National Caucus, National Executive Committee NEC, etc. must be allowed to function in accordance with provisions of the party’s constitution.

“The irresponsible culture of asking organs of the party to donate their powers to the NWC, which basically empowers the National Chairman to convert all the resources of the party to personal use, must end.

“Inability to allow organs to function will block any attempt to return the party to its founding vision of becoming a progressive party. Being a progressive party is about ensuring that we can produce a dynamic, action-oriented party that is able to produce governments that can improve the lives of Nigerians. It is about goal-setting and developing strategies to achieve them with a clear vision.

“This is easier said than done. In our context in Nigeria, this is reduced to claims and narrowed to winning elections.

“Certainly, winning elections is primarily the required precondition to improve the lives of citizens. Being a progressive party will mean that we are able to ensure that organs of the party develop the capacity to hold elected and appointed officials accountable”, he added.

Recall the APC had announced the resignation of Adamu and Iyiola Omisore as the National Chairman and National Secretary in the past week respectively.

New national chairman and national secretary are expected to emerge at the next NEC meeting of the party.