Two months after Bola Tinubu’s inauguration as president, there was a change of guard at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretariat, known as Buhari House, as a former Nasarawa State governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu was axed as national chairman of the ruling party. At the 12th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, two-term Kano State Governor, a trusted ally of Tinubu, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was pronounced as the new national chairman of the party.
Those who had taken more than a passing interest in development at the APC national secretariat prior to its presidential convention and the general election knew that the clock was ticking for the former Nasarawa governor; they knew that it would not be long before he voluntary threw in the towel or be forced to dislodge himself.
The former national chairman was against Tinubu’s emergence as the party candidate and was indifferent to the presidential campaigns of the party’s standard-bearer. No lesson appeared to have been learnt as Senator Adamu displayed open disdain for the presidency adopted candidates for the positions of presiding and principal officers of the 10th National Assembly. Party sources revealed that Senator Adamu’s outbursts last July that the APC National Working Committee under him was not privy to the choice of the principal officers of both chambers of National Assembly was the last straw that instigated his ouster.
Deal between party NWC and Tinubu
It was revealed that the choice of a loyal chieftain that would not rock the boat and cement mutual understanding between President Tinubu, the party national secretariat and the National Assembly, was sought and the choice of Ganduje came handy. In the uncertain days of the likely successor to former President Muhammadu Buhari, party sources revealed that the former Kano governor was one of those whose support for Tinubu was an open secret even when his colleagues in the forum of APC governors, the Progressives Governors Forum were watching the body language of the reticent Buhari. At the APC National Caucus meeting on the eve of his formal pronouncement as national chairman, Ganduje’s emergence was a fait accompli as party leaders rebuffed agitation that someone from the North Central should have been sought as replacement for the former Nasarawa Governor.
In his acceptance speech at the NEC meeting, Ganduje who inherited a fractured NWC where zonal officers accused the erstwhile national chairman of appropriating party organs, promised to run an all inclusive administration. He said: “Let me assure you that as national chairman, I will lead with integrity, transparency and a deep sense of responsibility. We are going to work tirelessly for a cohesive APC and a united, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria. It will be challenging but with dedication, I have confidence that we can achieve a prosperous APC. Thank you for trusting in our party.
“Our main focus will be promoting party unity and defending and increasing the number of executive and legislative seats we currently hold. Under my watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to with a deliberate policy to engage in wider consultations and making party functional throughout the year. More reforms will be carried out in the party in alignment with the current political landscape.”In his critique of the party registration exercise by previous administrations, the former Kano state governor faulted the party’s 40 million membership register. He told the gathering of President Tinubu, his vice, Senator Kashim Shettima, serving governors, federal lawmakers and Chairmen of state chapters that the bogus figure could not translate into corresponding tangible result during the 2023 presidential election. He promised to conduct a more credible scientifically-proven membership register from the wards to the state levels. He stated: “We will deploy technology in the registration of our members. The idea where the current figure of the membership of the party is over 40 million but could not reflect on the result of the last election, where we got only eight million votes, means that it can no longer be business as usual. We are going to carry out a scientific registration of members of our great party. We are going to embark on registration from wards to local government and the State.” Aside e-registration of party faithful, Ganduje promised the establishment of Democratic Institute.
Walking his talk?
Ganduje, acknowledged as an astute politician has redeemed his pledge to turn the APC national secretariat into a beehive of activities. His assurance to retain Kogi and Imo states for the ruling party has been fulfilled as the party won both states in the off-season election conducted last November, losing only Bayelsa to the main oppostion party. Ganduje promised to take the party to the grassroot was received with pinch of salt but checks revealed that unlike his predecessors he has since moved the activities of the national committees inaugurated for state governorship elections away from the national secretariat.
2027 permutations:
Party chieftains who perceive Ganduje as Man Friday of President Tinubu appreciate his deft move to restructure the Rivers State chapter and the entire South-East states chapters ahead of next general election. In the South-East, the APC has received defectors from the PDP and other parties into its fold. From Anambra state, two former governorship candidates: Senators Ifeanyi Ubah and Uche Ekwunife were received at the party national headquarters in Abuja last month. Until they defected to the APC, Ubah was the governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party while Ekwunife was his rival from the PDP in Anambra. Addressing the new entrants into the ruling party, the APC national chairman said Tinubu was determined to integrate the south east into what he called mainstream politics.
He said: “The calibre of people that are here today from Anambra, and not only from Anambra state but the South-East geopolitical zone, made me happy. I am so happy that they are here in the name of APC. I would like to let you know that Mr President, Bola Tinubu has approved our blueprint for the political liberation of the Southeast to the APC. He has approved the political emancipation, intervention and de-marginalisation of the South-East. “But be with one voice because if you speak with one voice, your voice will be bigger. There is no unity among us and you need unity in diversity. We need you to be united and deliberate in the party in Anambra State. “So you can see that Anambra APC will, In sha Allahu, win the next governorship, National Assembly, State Assembly and other grassroots elections. What we are simply telling you is that the South-East zone is coming into the national politics and the region will be dominated by APC. That is why they are here today.”
Consolidating grip on Rivers
The South-South state of Rivers is one of the states in the country with a huge voting population. In the last general election, it was a battle ground between the APC , the Labour Party and the PDP. In a high-wired power game that left Nigerians confounded, the APC candidate, Tinubu, defeated the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar in Rivers State as the latter came a distant third. APC scored 231,591, to the Labour Party 175,071 while PDP polled 88,468. According to the breakdown, the APC won 14 LGAs, the Labour Party, five, while the PDP won four. The feat attained by the APC candidate was attributed to the support offered by Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Rivers State governor who had since been rewarded in Tinubu’s cabinet as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Checks revealed that in the 2019 general elections, the APC could not field candidates as a result of the supremacy battle between the faction loyal to the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and another faction controlled by Senator Magnus Abe. The war of attrition for the control of the state chapter, was subject of litigations which was fought up to the Supreme Court. In a move to take the party structures from the estranged former Rivers Governor, Amaechi, the party structure under his grip was dissolved last month with a Caretaker Committee with Tony Okocha, believed to be a protege of Wike announced as chairman.
In his speech delivered at the inauguration ceremony, Ganduje who mandated the Okocha team to integrate all contending forces maintained that his interest in Rivers was to ensure genuine reconciliation. He said: “I want to congratulate the newly sworn-in members of the caretaker committee. I am sure you are fully aware that since 2015, the APC has been suffering some setbacks in the areas of conflicts, litigations, and counter-litigations that finally resulted in the loss of our great party in Rivers State.
“So, this new NWC has taken a look at the issues pertaining to the party both at national and individual state levels and decided to reform the party. There is no doubt we have members who have been with APC since inception. Some left the party. Some prominent chieftains who left the party even contested against us in another political party. They now wish to come back. Those who left to form factions are also ready to come back. You can see that there is no better time to rejig the party than now especially under a new state party leadership and we have confidence in you. We expect you to constitute various committees to get more members into the party. That is the work you should do and we expect you to create an enabling environment so congresses could be conducted for the emergence of leadership at local government, state, and even senatorial levels. There should be no discrimination because you are a product of unity.”
APC statutory organs: The unanswered questions
Under Ganduje, there has been a sustained warm relationship between members of the National Working Committee, particularly between the national chairman and the zonal officers unlike during the immediate past national leadership when some zonal officers openly mounted barricades against the national chairman and national secretary, squealing against their perceived excesses on the pages of national dailies.
The former Kano state governor has also earned the respect of a power bloc within the National Executive Committee, the Governors Forum and the Forum of State Chairmen and Secretaries.
But there are also those who continue to expressed strong reservations about the absence of the Board of Trustees ( now National Advisory Committee) and the “idleness “ of another statutory organ, the NEC of the party.
A member of the present NWC who spoke with Nigerian Tribune in confidence however said there was nothing to worry about the NEC of the party as he noted that members of NEC at its meeting held last August ceded its powers to the NWC.
The former national Vice Chairman, North West, Salihu Lukman, who resigned on the eve of Ganduje’s emergence however differs as he maintained that a vibrant NEC is needed to serve as the eyes of ordinary party faithful.
He said:” My expectation was that organs of the party will be active and through meetings of organs of the party, Asiwaju will benefit from a lot of advice through the organs and leaders of the party will be able to assess him very structurally which was what we lacked under Buhari. And there will be a lot of national debate about what needs to be done to correct all the problems the country is facing.”
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