Amidst agitation for the return of the seat of national chairman of the All Progressives Congress to the North Central region, certain chieftains of the party from the zone have pledged their support and loyalty to the former Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Former Senate President, Senator Ameh Ebute, led his colleagues on a solidarity visit to the APC national chairman on Wednesday.
Checks revealed that some chieftains of the party have been agitating for the removal of the incumbent and demanding a replacement from the North Central Zone. Further checks revealed that Ganduje’s predecessor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is from Nasarawa State in the North Central, while the incumbent Ganduje is from the North West zone.
Reading from a prepared text, Senator Ebute, who acknowledged disenchantment from his zone over the loss of the exalted seat of the APC national chairman to the North West zone, however, noted that “the office of the National Chairman of our Party should be about consideration for a track record of performance as shown in winning political contests against the opposition.”
He commended the former Kano state governor for turning around the political fortunes of the APC since his assumption of office as national chairman.
He said, “We have, by our own free will, and as a collective of true progressives, decided to pay Your Excellency this solidarity visit because we believe this is the best time to physically express our appreciation of the great things you have been doing for our great party since you were sworn into the office of the National Chairman.
“Therefore, this is a solidarity visit to our respected national chairman by party members of North Central
“Nigeria to ask and demand that you continue to do more for our party.
“Of course, Mr Chairman, we are not unaware of growing calls by some elements of the Party from the North Central Zone for reversal of the occupant of the office of the National Chairman based on the zoning arrangements that made Senator Abdullahi Adamu, your predecessor, who is from Nasarawa State in the North Central Zone, the National Chairman of our Party before he resigned in 2023.
“While we acknowledge the efforts of these advocates of returning the Chairman’s office to the North Central Zone, we, however, believe that the more compelling reason for anybody to advance the manner of person that will occupy the office of the National Chairman of our Party should be consideration for track record of performance as shown in winning political contests against the opposition. Equally important is how the rank-and-file members of the party are directly benefiting from the activities of the party across the country.
“When we put all these together, we came to the conclusion that you, Your Excellency, tick all the boxes for a performing excellent chairman. Indeed, you’re not just a performing national chairman but a national chairman who has done the most in the shortest possible time to positively impact individual members of our great party, while our party has also recorded impressive electoral strides bereft of rancour under your leadership.
“By these considerations, we hereby declare our unalloyed support for you, Your Excellency, to continue to manage the affairs of our great Party, the APC and to remain in the office of the National Chairman for the good and development of members of the party, especially for the purpose of ensuring stability in the administration of our great Party. ”
In his remarks, Ganduje thanked the North Central APC stakeholders for the visit and pleaded that party elders must refrain from instigating crises in the party, which he noted could create distractions for good governance.
“We thank you for coming; we have worked together to assist Mr. President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his efforts to maintain peace and security in Nigeria. We want to thank him for his efforts in rebuilding our economy, which was so bad, but with his commitment, we believe our economy will be put on the right foot by the grace of God.
“I am so happy that you realise the importance of having a stable political party that is focused and ready to win elections anytime, anywhere.
There is no doubt that there is opposition, but we believe that with your cooperation, we will not continue to listen to undesirable elements who are not focused, who are not real party men, and who want to show us that we are in disarray.
We have no place for that; we are people and politicians who are committed. We know we are forging ahead, so we thank you for these resolutions. We thank you for this commitment.”
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