North Central APC Stakeholders Endorse 49-Year-Old Mustapha For Chairmanship Position

The North Central advisory group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown its weight behind a former Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, Saliu Mustapha, as the zone’s consensus candidate for the position of the National Chairman of the party in the forthcoming APC national convention in February.

The advisory group endorsed the candidature of Mustapha at a stakeholders’ meeting in Ilorin the Kwara state capital.

Leader of the APC advisory group, Christopher Ameh, said the adoption of Mustapha was premised on his requisite party administration experience and a desire to wrestle the position from other big shots from the other regions.

He described Mustapha as a unifying figure with zero political and corruption baggage, which according to him will improve the chances of the zone in its race for the APC top job.

Similarly, the convener of the meeting, Benjamin Yisa, said Mustapha was a unifying figure in the party in view of his age and geopolitical demography.

Yisa, who is a former speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, urged President Buhari to ensure that only a candidate with no political baggage leads the party into the next cycle of elections.

On his part, a former gubernatorial aspirant under the defunct CPC from Nasarawa State, Mallam Ahmed Goringo, commended Mustapha’s loyalty and his ability to rally support among all party members.

He said, “Anyone in doubt of Saliu Mustapha’s loyalty to any cause he believes in is free to take a look at his antecedent.

“Here is a man that has been with President Buhari through thick and thin right from the days of The Buhari Organisation.

“We were together in the Congress for Progressive Change and as he did back then, we see him as the most likely to inspire confidence in a larger majority of APC members as a result of his good relations with all strata of the party,” Goringo said.

THE WHISTLER understands that 49-year-old Mustapha, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, is the youngest of the aspirants vying for the position of the APC’s national chairman.

However, he faces fierce opposition from the Senator representing Niger East in the Senate, Sani Musa, who is believed to enjoy the support of a number of stakeholders in the party, including presidential aspirant, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Chairman of the National Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, had announced the 26th of February as the date for the party’s National Convention in Abuja.

The party also announced on Wednesday that sale of forms to aspirants for various offices in the National Working Committee (NWC) will commence on February 14.