Ganduje: APC zeroes on N’Central to produce replacement, NWC to ratify July 24 NEC meeting

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Fresh indication has emerged that odds now favour North Central geopolitical zone to produce the next National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as replacement for former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who resigned last week.

A member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) told Daily Sun that the move is to redress the ill-treatment meted on the zone when Abdullahi Adamu was shoved and replaced with Ganduje in February 2023.

Our source equally disclosed that the NWC will meet today to deliberate on a wide range of issues, especially the practicability of the proposed July 24 date tentatively fixed for the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to ratify the new chairman of the party.

Acting National Chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori, would preside over the meeting as the most ranking member of the NWC from the northern region.

“I can confidently tell you that the North Central geopolitical zone will likely produce the next national chairman of our party. It has already been agreed that this resignation will provide the opportunity to remedy the mistake made in appointing Ganduje as Abdullahi Adamu’s replacement instead of a party member from the same North Central zone like Adamu.

“Again, this will also provide the opportunity to redress the constant agitation from the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) block, complaining about neglect and marginalisation by the party by appointing possibly a party member from the CPC block of the North Central zone extraction.

“We are going to hold a very crucial meeting on Monday morning particularly to deliberate on the possible date for our party’s NEC meeting tentatively fixed for July 24 next month.

“You know that there is a constitutional limitation for Dalori to lead the party in acting capacity. Therefore, the picture of who replaces Ganduje will also be clearer after the NWC meeting. I am not also ruling out the impact of the pressures from other zones in the northern region, but for now, the odds favour the North Central zone to produce the next chairman of our party,” the NWC member told the Daily Sun in confidence.

Meanwhile, another NWC member has blamed his colleagues for the intrigue that culminated in Ganduje’s forced resignation last week.

The furious NWC members told Daily Sun that the majority of his colleagues compromised in many ways, especially in supporting the racketeering adopted in conducting party primaries in recent times.

He lamented that many members of the NWC, instead of condemning the subletting of the party primaries, keyed into it for personal gain and watched shamefully as an aide to the immediate past chairman hijacked the process.

“It is not enough to rejoice over Ganduje’s resignation in anticipation of who takes over as his replacement. We must resolve within ourselves not to allow the shame perpetuated in the conduct of primaries under Ganduje to continue again.

“A situation where national officers almost turn to bag carriers to an aide to Ganduje to get one favour or the other cannot change anything in the new regime. We did not actually help matters in our desperation to benefit from the shameful system,” he complained.