A contemporary transfer to oust the nationwide chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr Abdullahi Ganduje is afoot by energy brokers within the presidential villa.
It was learnt that the transfer would entail easing off the embattled former governor of Kano State via an ambassadorial appointment so as to not shame him out of workplace.
A supply, within the know, confirmed to LEADERSHIP that the villa had truly introduced the ambassadorial supply to Ganduje, with the hope that he would settle for it and transfer on.
The supply hinted that Ganduje’s delay in accepting the supply is one in all main explanation why the formalised ambassadorial listing has not been launched.
It was additional learnt that it was on the again of the aforementioned association that the president gave his nod for the convening of a Nationwide Government Committee (NEC) assembly for subsequent month.
The plot is paying homage to how former Peoples Democratic Occasion (PDP) nationwide chairman, Bamanga Tukur, was appeased to vacate workplace in 2014 by then President Goodluck Jonathan following stress by aggrieved governors on the time.
Jonathan, in a bid to not shame Tukur, appointed him Ambassador-at-Massive, having earlier appointed him chairman, Board of Administrators of the Nigerian Railway Company, after he (Tukur) resigned from the political workplace.
LEADERSHIP had on Tuesday reported solely on an approval by the presidency for the APC NEC assembly to be held subsequent month.
The nod for the assembly is in opposition to the backdrop of President Bola Tinubu’s availability for the highest assembly between September 6 and 19.
The NEC assembly will set the stage for the conduct of a non-elective nationwide conference which will likely be held earlier than the tip of this 12 months.
Moreover being the primary NEC assembly this 12 months, it should even be the primary beneath the nationwide chairmanship of Ganduje.
Ganduje’s assumption of workplace in 2022 has been dogged by opposition from North Central occasion leaders who argue that he’s occupying the zone’s slot in opposition to the zoning association.
His scenario was subsequently compounded by an alleged monetary corruption probe into his administration as Kano State governor by his successor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.
An APC chairmanship aspirant in 2022, Muhammad Etsu, had filed a authorized injunction to cease Ganduje from parading himself as nationwide chairman.
He had argued for the nationwide chairmanship seat to return to the North Central zone, because it was zoned forward of the 2022 elective national convention.
Within the build-up to the 2022 nationwide conference, the APC had zoned the place to the North Central which noticed Senator Abdullahi Adamu emerge as nationwide chairman.
He, nonetheless, resigned in 2023 paving the way in which for Ganduje, who hails from North West, to grow to be chairman.
LEADERSHIP Friday realized that some high APC federal lawmakers have additionally leaned on Ganduje to take the ambassadorial slot.
However one other occasion supply revealed that Ganduje had additionally tried to rally some shut pals of the president to save lots of his job.
He’s stated to have met a former South West governor and shut Tinubu ally and modern as governor, to intervene in his case.
In the meantime, APC stakeholders from the North Central yesterday renewed their push for Ganduje to vacate the workplace.
It was gathered that the plot is to interchange Ganduje with former Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, who had contested the highest occasion seat in 2022 however misplaced to his predecessor in Nasarawa, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Calls and textual content messages to Al-makura over his curiosity within the APC nationwide chairmanship weren’t responded to as of press time.
Nevertheless, in a letter addressed to President Tinubu, Involved North Central APC Stakeholders urged the president to “resolve among the points agitating” their zone, “particularly the difficulty regarding the zoning of occasion chairmanship again to the zone the place the seat initially belongs.”
The letter was signed by a former chairman aspirant, Mohammed Estu.
It additional stated the “emergence of Dr Ganduje was at a extreme price to our zone which has been left excessive and dry. Now we have not been adequately compensated. The North Central zone as a collective is the occasion’s strongest zone politically at the moment. 5 out of the six states within the zone are managed by the occasion. It is a excessive proportion,” the letter learn.
Earlier, Estu, in a press convention, recommended the president for lastly initiating the “lengthy overdue” NEC assembly and urged the President to consolidate the acceptance of APC within the zone by rewarding the exhausting work of occasion members within the zone.
He stated: “However, extra importantly, by making certain that the chairmanship of the occasion zoned again to the North Central, the president will likely be making certain that the yearlong injustice to the zone is righted.
“For the reason that final reorganisation of the occasion, all of the zones had been adequately represented apart from the North Central which has nonetheless been left within the chilly. We need to additionally take our seat within the comity of our friends,’’ Estu stated on the assembly.
Ganduje, APC Mum Over Plans For Ambassadorial Appointment, Substitution Of Authorized Adviser
In the meantime, Ganduje has saved mum over insinuations that he has been tipped for ambassadorial appointment to depart his present place for somebody from the North-Central geopolitical zone.
When contacted, the chief press secretary to APC nationwide chairman, Edwin Olofu, didn’t reply to our correspondent as of the time of this report.
Equally, the APC nationwide publicity secretary, Felix Morka didn’t reply to inquiries in regards to the improvement, together with on plans to substitute the occasion’s nationwide authorized adviser place presently in North-central with a North-west occupant.
It was gathered from credible sources within the occasion that the President deliberate to return the place of APC nationwide chairman to North-Central, therefore the nationwide authorized adviser would return to North-West zone which had held the place.
Initially, Ahmed El-Marzuq, the erstwhile APC nationwide authorized adviser, had resigned from his place shortly after the occasion’s former nationwide chairman, Adullahi Adamu bowed out.
Consequently, Prof. Abdulkarim Kana from Nasarawa State was appointed to fill the emptiness, the place he’s holding until date.
“A part of the plan is that by the point Ganduje leaves, the place of nationwide authorized adviser will return to North-West as one other nationwide chairman will emerge from North-Central. This may seemingly happen in the course of the Nationwide Government Council (NEC) assembly anticipated in September,” the sources who don’t need their names talked about stated.
