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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
From all indications, the coast is gradually getting very clear for former governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to assume the position of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after surmounting all the hurdles before him.
What started as a speculation, gained traction in days and weeks, and has now almost become a reality with few days to confirm him as the national chairman in an acting capacity during the party’s National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for this week.
His journey to superintend affairs inside the Buhari House secretariat was facilitated by the endorsements from the presidency, the Hope Uzodinma-led APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), and the stark reality that the acting national chairman, Abubakar Kyari, has only a few days or weeks left to spend on that position due to his nomination for ministerial position.
Nobody actually saw the choice and emergence of the embattled former Kano governor coming, especially when the immediate past Chairman Abdullahi Adamu was shoved aside almost a fortnight ago.
Many thought the Ganduje option was a remote possibility considering the general impression that the incoming chairman of the party ought to be a Christian to correct the religious imbalance that counted against Adamu and made pulling the rug off his feet possible.
Ganduje, obviously was never in the reckoning for the position because names like the former governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, a Christian, among others particularly from North Central extraction were speculated as possible replacement for Adamu in line with the long tradition in the ruling party.
Surprisingly, not even the members of the national leadership of the party, the National Working Committee (NWC) had the slightest inclination of the choice of Ganduje until speculations of his endorsement by the members of the Governors’ forum gathered momentum in the media.
It was that worrisome that even the proposed meeting between the party’s leadership and the PGF members, where the choice of Ganduje was to be tabled and deliberated was tactically aborted just to perfect the plot to bring him in by hook or crook.
And while the party’s leadership was still busy shopping for a constitutionally acceptable choice in conformity with the zoning arrangement of the party and in alignment with the religious balancing, the Governors’ forum had already moved steps higher to anoint Ganduje.
In their wisdom, Ganduje, due to political exigencies, is the most suitably qualified person for the position, despite coming from the North West, against the agreed zoning arrangement.
Initially, and understandably too, the speculations had fuelled bitterness, anger, attacks, condemnations, resentment, and controversies among the party’s major stakeholders with the gladiators hauling missiles at themselves in support or in hostility over Ganduje’s choice.
Deeply exasperated by the manner the governors went about the endorsement and the negation of the zoning convention, erstwhile NWC member and National Vice Chairman, North West, Salihu Moh Lukman, led the antagonists against the choice of Ganduje.
Predictably, Lukman, who could not hold his irritation, did not only stoutly oppose it, constituting himself into a one-man riot squad, but also petitioned every relevant organ to ensure that the arrangement was aborted without any tangible result to show for the battle.
While the fight to stop Ganduje lasted, Lukman repeatedly described his choice for the position as insensitive, due to what he tagged his stinking baggage and deliberate scheme to short-change the North Central geopolitical zone that the position should be reserved for.
In his first statement to oppose the move, he bluntly wrote that; “part of the speculations emerging from the governors’ bloc is that Ganduje is being considered to succeed 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 according to him, “is because such a choice will completely distort the zoning arrangement that informed the present configuration of the leadership of the National Assembly.
“To propose the party’s national chairman to move to North West from North Central will be unjust and almost a political suicide. We must caution our governors. Any consideration for such an insensitive and unjust move for Dr. Ganduje must be discarded. If anything, the position 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,” he warned.
But the harder Lukman, the lone voice in the NWC crying in the wilderness, pushed the fight, the more he helplessly sunk into a hopeless situation, leaving him with no option but to throw in the towel, and resign his position in the party.
And painting a gory picture of a party heading for destruction, Lukman, in defence of his resignation, wrote: “Ordinarily, it is expected that the departure of Adamu and Iyiola Omisore should provide a window of opportunity to return the APC to constitutional order. Sadly, the turn of events since their resignation suggests the contrary.
“Members of the NWC were left in suspense. A meeting of NWC with PGF was canceled without any explanation. Suddenly, Uzodinma, in his capacity as chairman of PGF converted himself into a receiver manager for the party and began to act almost as the party’s NWC.
“Speculation about the nomination of Ganduje as nominee of governors and President Tinubu then started and became stronger each day. Efforts to highlight legal and moral issues which should require a rethink were simply ignored. “The dominant view among leaders is that once President Tinubu has decided on an issue, we should just simply work for its success even with all the legal and moral questions.”
Enumerating why Ganduje lacks the rectitude for the position, Lukman wrote: “The related moral question is the choice of Ganduje. Sincerely, it simply means that we don’t attach any importance to the party if with all the corruption allegations against Ganduje, we find him to be the only one in the North West to be recommended.
“Perhaps, it needs to be stated without fear of any contradiction that if leaders of the North West are asked to nominate five people for consideration to serve in that capacity, I am confident, Ganduje will not be one of the five nominees.
“If the scheme to have Ganduje emerge as the next National Chairman of APC succeeds with all the legal and moral questions, we would have set the stage for the destruction of our party and God forbid, laid the foundation that will make President Tinubu and all our elected representatives unpopular.
“Painful as it is, I want to appeal to President Tinubu and all our leaders to resist the temptations that would project our party and our leaders as champions of illegality and repression.”
Incidentally, his opinion, warnings, and standpoint counted for nothing. They were like water poured on a stone. The torrent of sponsored endorsements from various APC stakeholders, especially from the zone he was protecting made his case pathetically helpless.
And in what looked like a deliberate attempt to discredit him, both North Central APC youths and elders last week boldly and courageously endorsed Ganduje, claiming that the zone has conceded the position to the North West so long as it involves a competent, tested and trusted person like the former Kano State governor.
Briefing newsmen separately, the youths and elders described Ganduje as the best man for the job, arguing that his competence and capacity have necessitated relegating the zoning convention in favour of the North Central to the inconsequential background.
According to the convener of the Coalitions of North Central APC Youth Leaders and Support Groups, Okpokwu Ogenyi; “we the people of North Central have occupied the national chairmanship position of all ruling parties in the country and have done well in terms of party administration.
“Our father who was the National Chairman of the APC has resigned. As you may be aware, there is no vacuum in governance, so a competent hand must be employed in order to move our party forward. It is on this note that we wholeheartedly endorse Umar Ganduje as the national chairman of our great party.
“Ganduje is a party man who has distinguished himself as an intellect of high repute. As North Central youths, one may be 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 be also given the opportunity to participate in the party’s administration.
“We the North Central people are far above trivialism, greed, and selfishness when it comes to national interest. We firmly believe that Ganduje is the best man for the job at this moment. We are optimistic that APC under Ganduje shall complement the implementation of President Tinubu-led administration’s blueprint for the benefit of Nigerians.”
Corroborating the endorsement by their youths, North Central elders hinged their choice of Ganduje on the effort and genuine desire to sustain the initiatives for good governance.
Representative of the elders, Gen Lawrence Anebi Onoja (rtd), at a press conference in Abuja last week said: “As you are aware, the successes and achievements of our great party like any other organisation is a function of good leadership. That has been our secret all these years.
“There is a vacuum in the leadership of our great party. In the effort and genuine desire to sustain these initiatives for good governance, PGF under the chairmanship of Governor Uzodinma decided to act swiftly in endorsing a candidate to avoid any leadership gap.
“They did that in their wisdom, and with the approval of President Tinubu. That candidate is Ganduje. They weighed his leadership capacity, commitment, and experience to lead the party well before taking that decision. It is not surprising therefore that since the governor’s forum endorsed and announced Ganduje’s candidature, many political interest groups have similarly endorsed him to lead the party in an acting capacity.
“We, as representatives of elders of the party from the zone, in continuation of the series of endorsements, also support Ganduje. Ours is one of the most significant because we are from the same geopolitical zone as the former National Chairman. We are concerned about merit, quality, and continuity in leadership for our party. We are in no doubt that Ganduje will play that chairmanship role very effectively,” the retired military General argued.
As if the spate of endorsements were not yet enough, the leadership of the party, the NWC, rose from a marathon meeting last week confirming that Ganduje is competent and qualified enough to be considered for the position.
National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, who spoke on the matter, said: “Our constitution abhors a vacuum and that is why Kyari and Festus Fuanter stepped in on acting capacities. In the coming days, we are hoping that our constitutional procedures for the replacement of the officers that have left will be triggered to fill those vacancies.
“By the way, we have a few other vacancies and upcoming vacancies in the party’s leadership like our colleagues nominated for ministerial positions. Potentially, we are going to fill those vacancies going forward. On the specific issue of Ganduje, there is a whole lot of discussion around him in the media about endorsements.
“Let me say that Ganduje is an eminent party man. He is a leader of the party having finished his term as governor of Kano where he did an excellent job. But all I will say is that processes are ongoing. We have very clear constitutional guidelines as to how these things are done. But I have to acknowledge that we are aware of what is happening in the public space on the subject.
“Ganduje is a very experienced politician and should he indicate interest to be the national chairman and the relevant organs of the party find him worthy to serve in that capacity, he is eminently qualified. However, I want to say that everybody is free to make himself available for the position of national chairman including Ganduje.”
Reacting to the hurdles posed by the zoning convention, Morka said: “Regarding zoning, it is true. Ordinarily, in the usual course of party management and decision-making, zoning is very important and tends to be followed, but in some cases, it is not cast in stone. The relevant organs of the party have authority to vary zoning depending on what is in the best interest of the party.”
On the dynamics of selecting a new party chairman, Morka explained that: “our constitution is relatively clear on it. Nomination is made by relevant state executive committee and in some cases zonal committees and transmitted to the NWC which makes the presentation to the NEC with the authority to take decisions on so many levels like zoning, approving, or ratifying those nominations. NEC has the powers to do so but the highest decision-making organ is the convention.”
Curiously, the coast may be very clear for Ganduje, but with the apparent divisions and initial opposition against his emergence, planting the seed of discord between the NWC and the PGF, in addition to the person of Ganduje in the corruption perception index, he will certainly face mounting odds on assumption of office this week.
Again, can he apply the needed healing balm to stabilise the bitterness in the NWC as a stooge of the PGF that brought him? He will certainly have the disgruntled secretariat staff, grumbling over sundry unfavourable working conditions, the religious imbalance in the party, and the alleged unhealthy financial state of the party to contend with as the chairman.
Appraising his choice as the national chairman, NWC member told Daily Sun in confidence that he will certainly be confronted with daunting tasks.
“Yes, Ganduje may not have been tried or convicted over corruption allegations but someone with such a moral burden in the public corruption perception index cannot certainly be the best replacement for Adamu.
“He obviously has the experience and capacity, but beyond those qualities, a party’s national chairman ought to live above board in wearing the toga of integrity and trustworthiness, which if you ask me, I will boldly say are completely lacking in him.
“Again, I don’t also think that our party is fair enough to the North Central in denying the zone that position in clear breach of the zoning convention. However, on the flip side, instead of the zone losing out completely, the proposed option to give them the soon-to-be-vacated National Deputy Chairman North can be a compensation for the geopolitical zone,” the NWC member quipped.
