Ahead of its March 26 national convention, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has begun to set machinery in motion for the exercise. The latest move was the constitution of an eight-member committee on the zoning of party offices, headed by Kwara State Governor Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq. National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John Akpanudoedehe, disclosed this in a statement.
However, Akpanudoedehe hinted, in a telephone conversation, that the leadership of the ruling party had yet to meet over the Electoral Act recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
But as the convention team readied to get the ball rolling, principal officers of the Senate and some senators of the ruling party, led by President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, his deputy, Omo-Agege said they had endorsed the candidature of Senator Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) for the office of National Chairman.
Nonetheless, former Governor of Borno State and frontline chairmanship aspirant, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, said he was not aware of the alleged endorsement of Adamu by Buhari as the next national chairman of the party.
Meanwhile, in Kwara State, a chieftain of APC and Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, Hon. Benjamin Issa Ezekiel, said one of the chairmanship aspirants from the North-central geopolitical zone, Malam Saliu Mustapha, remained the state’s “unity candidate” for the office of APC chairman.
Akpanudoedehe said, in the statement, “The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and Governor of Yobe State, His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, has approved the appointment of the Party’s Zoning Committee for the forthcoming National Convention.”
He named other members of the committee to include Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, who will serve as deputy chairman of the zoning committee. Professor Etim Nyong, Dr. MB Shehu, Mustapha Salihu, Senator Teslim Folarin, and Mr. Sadeeq Sule-Iko Sami were named members of the committee, while Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Nkem Okeke, would serve as Secretary.
Akpanudoedehe said the committee was expected to submit its report on March 7.
But some senators endorsed Adamu during a meeting held at the Senate wing of the National Assembly complex on Wednesday evening, with the ranking senator in attendance.
The APC senators, numbering about 10, were said to have resolved to back Adamu in his bid to become the party’s national chairman at the forthcoming national convention slated to hold in Abuja on March 26. Sources said that the senators also agreed to engage other stakeholders, including some of the chairmanship aspirants, on the need to drop their ambitions and support the chairman of Senate Committee on Agriculture to emerge as chairman of the ruling party.
One of the aspirants, who is also a serving senator, Sani Musa (Niger East), attended the Wednesday meeting.
During a meeting with the president, APC governors agreed that all the previous positions in the party held by members from the North-west would now go to those from the South-east; all positions that were held by those from the North-east would go to those from the South-west; and all positions previously held by members from the North-central would automatically go to those from the South-south. This meant that the positions of national secretary and chairman had been dealt with.
But, with the setting up of zoning committee by the party, stakeholders would be on the look out for possible changes in the zoning formula, even though a governor, who preferred anonymity, said that the zoning formula in circulation was not sacrosanct.
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