Insists Zone Deserves National Chairmanship Position
The North Central All Progressives Congress Forum has asked state chairmen of the party from the region to dissociate themselves from the recent vote of confidence passed on the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, or face mass protests.
Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Jos, the Plateau State capital, the forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Mandung Zazzaga, said the vote of confidence, which the state chairmen of the party passed on Ganduje last Tuesday, was not in the interest of the North Central region or the party in general.
Zazzaga said the North Central APC Forum, along with various leaders and chieftains of the APC from the region, have been pushing for the zoning of the national chairmanship position of the party to the region, “because that position is well deserved by the region owing to its contribution to the progress of the party and its victory in the 2023 elections.”
Zazzaga, who was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council in the last election, pointed out that apart from the strong contribution of the North Central to the development and sustenance of the APC over the years, as well as the tremendous support it gave to President Bola Tinubu during the presidential election, the region has also delivered five governors for the APC out of the six states in the zone.
He said apart from Plateau State, which is governed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Kwara, Niger, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa states are all governed by the APC.
He added: “Therefore, the North Central region has made a strong statement on its achievement for the party and therefore deserves the national chairmanship position of the party.
“So, it is therefore unreasonable that while we are pushing for the national chairmanship position of the party to be zoned to the North Central in view of our efforts for the progress of the APC and its victories at elections, the party’s state chairmen from our region would be part of any arrangement or decision to pass a vote of confidence on the embattled National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
“We are not meddling in the issue of Ganduje, as a result of his suspension from the party by his ward in Kano and the court injunctions which followed thereafter. And we are also not against Ganduje as a person. Our concern is the North Central region.
“After the 2023 election, we were hoping to get the national chairmanship position, but it was given to Ganduje, who is from the North West. And since then, we have never relented in pushing for that position.
“All we are after is the rights and privileges of the North Central region, and the national chairmanship position remains one of our prominent interests for our efforts.
“So, we are earnestly calling on all the state party chairmen from the region to immediately distance themselves from that vote of confidence passed on Ganduje. Otherwise, we will commence mass protests against them in all the North Central states.”
