NEC meeting not convened to remove Ganduje – APC secretary

The National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Basiru Ajibola, has said the planned National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings of the party are not intended for the removal of its National Chairman, Umar Ganduje.

Mr Ajibola said this on Friday following a closed-door meeting between the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC and Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, who also serves as the Chairman of the North-central Governors’ Forum, at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

He explained that the planned meetings are being convened in line with Article 11 of the party’s Constitution.

“People like to twist events. Immediately we put up notice when the president told us about his availability, we read in the papers that the meetings are about changing the leadership of our party.

“None of these meetings is being scheduled for regime change in the party. They are being held to provide a stewardship report of what has been done by the leadership of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, including presenting our audit report to show what we have been doing, as well as the way forward,” Mr Basiru said.

Mr Ganduje, who hails from the North-west zone of the country, replaced former Chairman Abdulahi Adamu in 2023, but continues to face uncertainty over his position due to pressure from the North-central to which the position was zoned.

Party members from the region have canvassed the return of the chairmanship slot to the North-Central after the exit of Mr Adamu.

Meanwhile, under Mr Ganduje’s leadership, the party has been facing crises in some of its state chapters, including Rivers, Benue, and Enugu.

Besides, the national chairman is in court over allegations of corruption committed while he was governor of Kano State.

Mr Ganduje’s fate may, however, depend on the decision of President Bola Tinubu, who endorsed him for the position. He became the chairman of thevruling party on 3 August, 2023.

Don’t distract Ganduje, NWC—Gov Sule

In his remarks after Friday’s meeting, Mr Sule warned against any form of distraction to the NWC, noting that the party should be focused on winning the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.

“In the next couple of weeks, we have an election in Edo. So the man (Ganduje) does not need to be distracted in any other way, so that we can go and win our election in Edo, and that is one of the reasons why I came to encourage him to be focused,” Mr Sule said.

On the lingering crisis in Benue State, Mr Sule said the party needs to strengthen its hold on the region, adding that Mr Ganduje has what it takes to guide the party through it.

“I am the Chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum. And in the North-Central, we have a state where there are issues, and we had lengthy discussions on that. We want him, as well as the National Working Committee, to intervene and make sure that we resolve those issues.

“North-Central has five out of six APC governors. So, for that reason, we need to strengthen our zone. We cannot afford any kind of disagreement in our zone.

“And I have no doubt that if there is any gentleman who can work to resolve that matter, it’s a man who has held several positions: a deputy governor, a governor, a chairman; in fact, so many other positions that he has held,” he said.