Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has spoken about a conversation he had with President Bola Tinubu after he resigned earlier in the year.
Adamu, who emerged as the national chairman at the party’s convention in March 2022, had voluntarily stepped down during a crisis which rocked the party after Tinubu’s emergence.
Daily Trust had reported how Adamu distanced himself from the choice of the principal officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives, describing the news of their appointment as a rumour.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, had announced the names of principal officers of their respective chambers at plenary on July 4, 2023.
The president eventually intervened and after an Aso Rock meeting alongside Senator Iyiola Omisore, then secretary of the party, Adamu said the issue was a family affair and had been resolved.
Tinubu had subsequently traveled out of the country for African Union summit and before his return, the then APC chairman turned in his resignation, paving way for the emergence of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State as his successor.
Speaking in an interview on Reminiscence, a Trust TV programme, Adamu said despite what people might say, he was glad that Tinubu won the election when he was chairman of the party.
“I have no regret. The reason I have no regret is that only what God wills will happen… God has made Bola Ahmed Tinubu the president of this country. The moment he won in the convention, I led the National Working Committee to his residence to congratulate him and to give him assurance that we would stand head and shoulders with him to work for the success of the party; and we did.
“No matter what anybody will say about my relationship with Tinubu, the fact remains that it was under my leadership that the APC won the election. I like Tinubu for one thing. When I last saw him after my resignation, he referred to himself as ‘this bouncing baby boy delivered by you.’ And he made my day.”
Asked why he resigned suddenly, Adamu said, “Politics is an amalgamation of actions and reactions and you have to find your bearing in them. I felt I had played that part of leadership. I was a minister in this country. I was also a governor and secretary of Board of Trustees of a ruling party. I led this party called the APC to victory and delivered a whole new government to succeed Buhari.”
Excerpt of the first extensive interview that the former senator granted since he exited office will be published on Sunday’s edition of Daily Trust.
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