Amidst discontentment over skewed appointments in his administration against the North Central geo-political zone, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pleaded with party chieftains from the region to exercise patience as he is determined to address the perceived imbalance.
He made the plea on Saturday in Lafia, Nasarawa State, at a meeting with stakeholders of the party in the North Central region.
Sunday Tribune checks revealed that the North Central lost out in the race for leadership of the 10th National Assembly while the North West produced both the Deputy Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the persons of Senator Barau Jibrin and Tajudeen Abass from Kano and Kaduna States, respectively.
Key figures who lost out in the race for leadership of the National Assembly from the North Central were the Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa, who vied for the exalted seat of Senate President, and Honourable Idris Wase for the seat of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Incidentally, the latter from Plateau State was Deputy Speaker in the Ninth National Assembly.
Further investigation by Sunday Tribune revealed that the North Central region has been agitating for the office of National Chairman, presently occupied by former Kano State Governor from the North West region, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to be returned to the North Central.
The immediate past National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, was from the North Central zone.
Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who incidentally is also from the North Central zone, President Tinubu pleaded for patience and understanding as he assured that he was determined to give a sense of belonging to the zone.
Akume hinted at impending political appointments to mitigate the imbalance against the North Central. He said: “We have the Minister of Police Affairs and the Minister of Steel. I know that we deserve more, and apart from what I have heard, because I have my ears on the ground, we still deserve more.
That’s why when our President observed some lopsidedness, he decided to take some decisions. We have a template which we are going to follow. Those who are aggrieved will no longer be aggrieved. Just watch: you will see what will happen in the next few weeks.”
The SGF also said the President is keen on ensuring the completion of ongoing work on the Akwanga-Jos, Abuja-Lokoja, and the Makurdi-Enugu federal highways, and pleaded for “unity of purpose. Unity as brothers and sisters, with shared values and commonality of interest.”
In his remarks, National Chairman of the APC, Umar Ganduje, expressed delight that the reforms put in place by President Tinubu were already yielding good returns for Nigerians.
He tasked party faithful to engage in massive sensitization of Nigerians to properly understand these challenges and the efforts and commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu towards addressing them.
He said: “I would like to reaffirm my commitment to the ideals of our great party to set new standards and benchmarks in the nation’s democratic sphere and ensure the sustenance and continuation of the APC government at all levels.
“Even though it is not yet an election period, we are reinvigorating the party to ensure that come 2027, we will retain and get new state governors, as well as Mr. President, to secure another mandate to continue with his government’s policies and programmes.
“On the party affair, you may recall that in my inaugural address, I made a commitment to strengthen unity in our party by working hard individually and collectively. However, for me to succeed, I want to passionately appeal for the cooperation and support of all party members.
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“While we are structuring our party into a truly grassroots progressive party, may I also appeal to our governors to support the state party leadership by ensuring that all the state party offices at the ward, local government, and state levels are fully functional.
This will enable our members across the country to have symbolic representation in their neighborhood. It will also facilitate party activities to roll out all year round, without necessarily waiting till campaigns or elections.”
In attendance were the Governors of Kwara, Nasarawa, Kogi, and Benue states, and the Deputy Governor of Niger State. Other high-profile APC chieftains included the immediate past National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; former Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Almakura; former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase; Senator Barnabas Gemade; Minister of Steel Development, Shaibu Abubakar Audu, among others.
