The coalition of North-Central leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown its weight behind former Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, to replace the immediate past National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
The development is coming barely two days after APC chairmen in seven states of the North-West similarly endorsed the 73-year-old politician at a meeting in Kaduna.
The alleged endorsement of Ganduje as the preferred choice of President Bola Tinubu and the APC governors has generated mixed feelings among party faithful and members of the ruling party.
While a few party chieftains felt the next national chairman should be allowed to emerge from Nasarawa State in line with the zoning arrangement of APC, others backed the choice of the former Kano governor.
Convener of the coalition, Mr. Okpokwu Ogenyi, told the media in Abuja on Thursday that though the current zoning formula cedes the office to their zone, the APC North-Central leaders have agreed to forfeit the office of national chairman in favour of Ganduje.
He said: “We the people of North Central have occupied national chairmanship position of all ruling parties in the Country and have done well in terms of party administration. We are proud to say that a chairman from the zone led the party to victory in the last residential election.
“Today, our father who was the National Chairman of the APC has resigned his position thereby making the post vacant. As you maybe aware, there is no vacuum in governance so a competent hand must be employed in order to over our party forward.
“It is on this note that we wholeheartedly endorse Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the National Chairman of our great Party, APC. Abdullahi Ganduje is a party man who has distinguished himself as an intellectual of high repute.
“As North Central Youths, one maybe tempted to ask why we should not clamour for the position to be retained in the zone. The truth is, we have contributed our quota and wish other zones to be also given the opportunity to participate in the Party’s administration. We the North Central people are far above trivialities, greed and selfishness when it comes to national interest”.
