Four months to the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), top shots of the party have commenced intense underground moves and consultations for the national chairmanship seat of the ruling party.
The tenure of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, which was inaugurated on June 25, 2020 to administer the party’s affairs following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC), will lapse in June this year.
The Buni-led committee, which was first given a six-month timeframe to address critical issues in the party, got an extension of six months in December last year. In extending the tenure of the committee, the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party said their convention, where a new set of NWC members would emerge, would be held after the party’s membership revalidation and registration.
The workout is ongoing throughout the u . S . A ., and barring any trade, the convention can be held earlier than the end of the tenure of the Buni-led committee.
Multiple birthday party resources informed our journalists that six chieftains of the birthday celebration from the North have began consultations for the chairmanship position. All of them are former governors who played essential roles inside the formation of the birthday party in 2013. All the aspirants are, however, yet to formally claim their intentions for the seat.
So some distance, four individuals have manned the chairmanship position of the celebration due to the fact its formation in 2011. Except the incumbent chairman, who is a sitting governor (Yobe), 3 others, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief John Odigie Oyegun and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole were former governors.
Daily Trust Saturday accrued from impeccable resources that the six former governors: Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Senator Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Senator George Akume (Benue), Senator Kashim Shettima (Borno) and Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), are eying the seat. While three of the previous governors are serving senators, two have been previously at the top chamber, and Yari lost his bid to the parliament in 2019 following the internal wrangling that rocked the celebration in Zamfara State.
Senator Al-Makura
Al-Makura belongs to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) element of the APC. He is being promoted by means of his successor in Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule.
Weeks ago, Governor Sule, while flagging off the membership registration and revalidation exercise of the celebration within the state, entreated other blocs to help the kingdom to produce the next country wide chairman.
But Al-Makura, a enterprise mogul who represents Nasarawa South senatorial district, is but to officially declare his intention to vie for the location. Sources across the former governor told our reporters that said loved the total help of maximum of the elements of the CPC in the APC.
Danjuma Goje
Senator Goje, a sixty eight-12 months-old former governor of Gombe State, is a rating lawmaker. He has been representing the Gombe Central senatorial district for the reason that 2011.
The former governor, who stepped down from the race to the Senate presidency for Senator Ahmad Lawan few days to the inauguration of the Ninth Assembly following the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari, is one of these stated to be eying the chairmanship seat of the party.
As a key participant in the formation of the celebration, Goje enjoys the assist of his colleagues within the parliament and past. In a latest interview, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, cited the senator as one of the founding fathers of the APC who might speak on the zoning arrangement this yr.
George Akume
Akume, a two-time period governor of Benue State, is the present day Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs. He represented Benue North-West senatorial district, popularly called Zone B, inside the National Assembly. He was the Minority Leader of the Senate from June 2011 to June 2015.
A credible source near Akume advised Daily Trust Saturday in a cellphone chat yesterday that a few top politicians in the APC had been triumphing at the minister to enroll in the chairmanship race.
“He is devoted to the ideals of the celebration and has worked very intently with Mr President. If the birthday party feels that he need to soak up the undertaking of national chairmanship, he is available. He is willing to accept any undertaking with the aid of the party. But he is but to claim his goal,’’ our supply said.
Abdulaziz Yari
Yari belongs to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) bloc of the APC. Until 2007 while he turned into elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Anka/Talata Mafara federal constituency), he had been an legitimate of the party, growing to come to be its countrywide monetary secretary.
In 2011, he defeated Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, a sitting governor in Zamfara State following the guide of his then godfather, Ahmed Sani Yarima. He dominated for 8 years.
His inability to address banditry at some stage in his tenure in Zamfara State become a minus for him. His feud with a faction of the APC in the state, led by means of Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, over the governorship primaries of the celebration price the birthday celebration the state within the 2019 elections. But a brand new environment is permeating the party in Zamfara as Yari and Marafa’s camp currently reconciled.
Sources around him said he become not leaving any stone unturned to actualise his dream. He is one of these promoting zoning the presidency to the South. One of the resources stated he changed into banking on the assist of serving governors as he is close to many of them.”
But every other supply said: “Things have changed. Most of his colleagues aren't interested in his candidature due to matters. One, the way he controlled the celebration in his state and the problem of the probe round him. They see another Oshiomhole in him.”
Senator Kashim Shettima
Shettima, a -time period governor of Borno State, endeared himself to many between 2011 and 2019 while he held sway inside the state, seemed at the hotbed of the Boko Haram insurgency. Despite the insurgency, Shettima succeeded in addressing some of the developmental demanding situations within the state.
In February 2019, he become elected a senator for Borno Central, replacing Senator Baba Kaka Bashir.
Our reporter learnt that some stalwarts of the party have already commenced scheming for him in advance of the convention, at the same time as he is taking his time to seek advice from extensively.
Shettima’s former adviser on infrastructure, Bashir Maidugu, a lawyer, informed Daily Trust Saturday on cellphone the day prior to this that his boss ought to be considered for the countrywide chairmanship slot with the aid of the birthday celebration’s top echelon because of his top notch leadership traits.
He discovered that a few politicians had been scheming for him due to his political antecedents, enjoy and ability to address disaster conditions, in addition to his enthusiasm to sincerely serve the party.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff
He is Borno State’s first governor to serve consecutive phrases (2003-2011). In 2003, he ran at the platform of the ANPP and gained. He turned into re-elected in 2007 and sworn in on 29 May, identical yr.
Sheriff later played a key role in the formation of the APC. He additionally served as senator representing Borno Central for 3 phrases.
In the buildup to the 2015 fashionable elections, Sheriff jumped deliver to the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party turned into later enmeshed in a extended management crisis and extreme felony tussle, which nearly caused its extinction at some point of Sheriff’s reign as chairman.
He turned into accused of being an agent of the APC to destabilise the party. The former governor later back to the APC after his dramatic go out from the pinnacle hierarchy of the PDP. There are feelers that he could contest the chairmanship slot of the APC.
He has, however, maintained sealed lips and occasional profile as a lot has no longer been heard from him for a long term. But many agree with Sheriff was entangled in underground political scheming.
Those near him say he's banking on his titanic experience, political capital and deep pocket to make matters happen to his gain, the use of his role as one of the founding members of the APC and different connections.
Agitations to zone presidential price ticket to South accentuate
Meanwhile, agitations to area the celebration’s presidential ticket to the South are ongoing. Various camps inside the southern part of the u . S . Are looking ahead to the conference of the party for a very last decision on zoning. It is believed that if the North produces the chairman of the party, the South might produce the presidential flag-bearer.
Reacting to why APC stalwarts from the South are calm over the chairmanship slot, a political analyst, Chief Jackson Lekan Ojo, instructed our reporter that they had been playing store.
“If any flesh presser contests from the South they could be blocking their probabilities of taking a shot at the presidency in 2023. That is why human beings like Gbenga Daniel and Adeyeye are out to form ‘SWAGA,’ which is solely a political campaign business enterprise for Bola Tinubu.
“They understand that the area can't produce the presidential candidate and country wide chairman of the party at the equal time. Based in this, no one might want to contest from the South for now,’’ he stated.
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