Bode Olagoke
Abuja
Barring any last-minute change in plan, the immediate past governor of Kano state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje looks good and set to take over as the next national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former governor, who hails from the North-west, is believed to have the backing of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the job.
At the moment, Speaker House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas and Deputy Senate President Barau Jibril are both from the North-west region as Ganduje.
In fact, like Ganduje, Jibril is from Kano state, while Abbass comes from Kaduna state.
The former APC chair, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, alongside the national secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, reportedly resigned from their positions Sunday night.
Consequent upon that, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) met Monday and ratified the deputy national chairman north, Senator Abubakar Kyari, as the acting national chairman and Festus Fuanter, the party’s national secretary, as the acting national secretary.
The party is expected to hold a national convention to formally ratify Ganduje and any other party chieftain so agreed on by stakeholders for the national chairman’s seat and national secretary respectively.
The permutations
Ganduje’s choice, according to political analysts, is targeted at strengthening Tinubu’s chances in the most populated Northwest zone ahead of 2027.
Although Ganduje, a strong Tinubu campaigner during the pre-2023 presidential election, garnered for Tinubu the highest votes of 517, 341 votes in the Northwest, the efforts were however not sufficient to stop the former governor’s erstwhile godfather, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, who polled 997, 279 votes to defeat Tinubu.
It is also on record thatNorth-west produced the cumulative votes of 2,950,393 representing 33.55% of the 8,794,726 votes in favour of the APC presidential candidate.
The move
Blueprint gathered Wednesday night that Ganduje, who had made a yet-to-be released Tinubu’s ministerial list, was suddenly persuaded to nominate someone else from Kano state for the state’s slot.
Ganduje’s choice as the next national chairman is contrary to media reports that the party was planning to choose a Christian from the North-central as the party boss.
The current acting national chairman of the party, from Borno state, Senator Abubakar Kyari, is said to be nursing a ministerial ambition like some other NWC members.
Blueprint correspondent reliably learnt that the Kano-born politician will soon be announced as APC acting national chairman pending his ratification at a national convention of the party to ensure a smooth transition.
Ganduje, a well-known political ally of President Tinubu, was one of the earliest APC governors who openly declared support for his presidential ambition before the party’s primary election.
The source added that the trio of the chairman of Progressives Governors Forum and Imo state Governor Hope Uzodinma, Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum and Kwara state Governor Abdulraham Abdulrasaq and that of Ogun state, Dapo Abiodun, were sent by the president to lobby Ganduje for the job.
The former governor was said to have agreed to work in the best interest of the party and the country.
“President Tinubu has settled for the former Kano state Governor Ganduje to replace Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the party’s national chairman.
“The President had listed Ganduje as one of the nominees for ministerial appointment, but because of his trust and confidence in the former governor, President Tinubu has to change his mind and asked three governors (Governor Hope Uzodimma, Kwara state governor and Governor Dapo Abiodun) to persuade Ganduje into another assignment.
“Although the President also asked him (Ganduje) to nominate another person from Kano for the ministerial job, I can confirm to you that four serving governors of APC, including Imo and Kwara governors, led former Governor Ganduje to a meeting with the President on Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of that meeting is for President Tinubu to brief Ganduje directly about the new assignment,” said the source, who chose to spoke under anonymity.
Born on 25 December, 1949, Ganduje served as the governor of Kano state from 2015 to 2023.
The former governor previously served as Kwankwaso’s deputy governor twice, from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015.
A chieftain of the party who pleaded anonymity said the choice of Ganduje will bring life back to the party.
“I got the information this afternoon too, and based on his political experience and capacity, Ganduje will cement the party because he is not a dictator like we used to have,” it was further gathered.
It won’t be fair – Alancha
But when contacted last night, an APC chieftain from Benue state, Rev. Dominic Alancha, dismissed the report, describing it as a fiction of imagination.
The cleric was Director General Al-Makura Campaign Organisation during Senator Umar Al-Makura’s bid for APC national chairman last year.
Sounding visibly angry in a telephone chat with Blueprint, Alancha said the position of the national chairman is in the North-central, and that it would only be proper to have another north central person as a replacement.
The associate of the Nasarawa state governor further said: “The Ganduje report is just speculation, a fiction of imagination that exists in their head, there is a zoning arrangement domiciled in the party.
“The position of the National Chairman of our great party, APC in the North-central zone while the position of Speaker and Deputy Senate President to the North-west zone.
“I don’t see the possibilities of taking the position of National Chairman to the North-west. It’s not just possible. The party can only shop for a replacement from the same zone the former chairman comes from which is the North-central.
“What the party needs to do now is to convey a NEC meeting as soon as possible and invoke their powers by electing someone from the North-central as National Chairman of our great party.
“So, a NEC meeting should be conveyed and let them elect a National Chairman from the North-central zone. That settles the matter as the decision will be binding on all party organs and members of party.”
