In this reports, BODE OLAGOKE, writes on some of the activities under former governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last four months.
2023 is a year of transition in Nigeria, not only at presidential villa and various state government Houses but the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) also changed its leadership following the ouster of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the party’s National Chairman.
On August 3rd, 2023 former governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Senator Ajibola Basiru, at the 12th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting were ratified as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively.
Although, Ganduje’s emergence witnessed few opposition from those who felt that his choice was against the zoning arrangement of the party.
Prominent among the opposing voices was the immediate-past National Vice Chairman of the party in the North-west, Malam Salihu Moh Lukman, who felt North-central should have produced Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s successor just like Ajibola Basiru replaced Senator Iyiola Omisore from Osun state as the APC National Secretary.
However, both supporters and those who initially opposed the emergence of Ganduje as APC’s helmsman have now agreed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu meant well when he insisted on the former Kano state governor as Adamu’s successor.
Within four months of his leadership, life that had practically left the national secretariat of the ruling party under Senator Adamu’s NWC has since returned, this can be seen in the numbers of groups, prominent individuals corporate organisations and representatives of several nations rushing to paid home to Ganduje at Buhari’s House.
Ganduje’s focus
Speaking after his emergence, Ganduje promised that his main focus would be to promote party unity, defending and increasing the number of executive and legislative seats the party currently holds.
“It’s a huge privilege and an honour and a great responsibility to take on this job and I will do it with everything I have to the best of my ability for my party and my country. We will ensure a level playing field for all party members that want to contest elections under the party’s platform. Our primary elections would be free, transparent and fair.
“Under my watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to with a deliberate policy to engage in wider consultations and make the party functional throughout the year.
“More reforms will be carried out in the party in alignment with the current political landscape. We all agreed that we must unite our members to achieve support for our government to respond adequately, urgently and assertively to the challenges that Nigerians confront on a daily basis.”
Reconciliation of party members
To achieve his main focus, Ganduje has embarked on various reconciliatory moves to ensure various tendencies in the states are united, while those that had left the party have started coming back.
Recently, during the heat of the face-off between the Governor of Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu and his Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the national leadership of the party set up the reconciliation committee to resolve the political disagreement.
At the time, Aiyedatiwa was under the threat of impeachment by the State House of Assembly over allegations of gross misconduct and was served with notice of the allegations levelled against him by the lawmakers.
Though the deputy governor obtained an order from the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the lawmakers to suspend the process. The party’s intervention has brought about peaceful transition of power to Akeredolu’s deputy who is now acting governor in absence of the governor who is currently sick.
Grassroots activities
Unlike what was obtainable in the past, where almost all activities of the party are conceived and initiated at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, Ganduje has changed the narrative by taking the party back to the grassroot.
For instance, the inauguration of the national campaign team for the just concluded November 11, 2023 governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states were held in the aforementioned states instead of Abuja.
Institute of Progressive Study
To ensure that the governing party and the members live up to expectation as a progressive party, Ganduje revealed plan to establish an Institute of Progressives Study, where party members and upcoming leaders will be taught rudiments of government and what a progressive party stands for. The idea has been commended by stakeholders and political scientists.
Functional offices across the country
For easy mobilisation and to carry all party members along, Ganduje’s NWC has also revealed plans to ensure that APC has functional offices in all the 8,813 wards across the country.
Ganduje said: “I will like to call on all party members and stakeholders to rally round our candidate so that our party will succeed. By doing so, all the legacy projects would be sustained and there will be continuation in governance.
“As a party, we are committed to working hard individually and collectively to realise these goals and objectives. It is pertinent to also note that we have initiated and concluded plans to structure our party into a truly grassroots progressive party by opening full-fledged and functional offices in all the 8,813 wards in Nigeria.”
E-registration of members
The Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) has also commenced the process of registering its over 40 million members electronically to consolidate its membership strength ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This development was coming two years after Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee conducted a similar nationwide membership registration exercise, which brought the current membership to over 40 million.
Ganduje explained that the essence of the electronic registration innovation is to capture the current membership strength of the party.
He decried the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, stressing that the number of votes garnered by the party was a far cry from the actual strength of its registered members.
According to him: “If you will recall, we had several 41 million members. But during the presidential election, we had only eight million. What happened to the rest? This is why we need to be digital and ensure that we are working with the correct data.
“Another step that we have taken is that we are reviewing our registration electronically now. The work has already started. You should be ready that all our members will be electronically registered so that we have an exact number physically.”
Defections of opposition leaders
Without doubt, the leadership style of Ganduje has endeared a lot of political actors prompting them to the ruling party.
Recently, a former National Chairman of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Prof. Rufai Alkali, the former National Organising Secretary, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, former National Legal Adviser, Prof. Bem Angwe and other party members have defected to the ruling APC.
In addition, political bigwigs in Anambra state, including Senator Ifeanyi Ubah also defected to the ruling party recently.
Just tast week, 27 House of Assembly members in Rivers State defected to the party.
Judging by the above developments in the ruling party, political observers and stakeholders believe APC might be driving to becoming a true progressive party its founding fathers aimed to be in 2013 aside winning elections.
As at today, Ganduje’s APC is winning elections, as the party recently retained Kogi and Imo states at the just concluded November 11 governorship polls, but more importantly working hard to bring about a progressive political party that will eventually brings about transformation of Nigeria.
