APC chairmanship: Sen. Al-Makura on a rescue mission

By Mohammed Baba Busu 

The days are counting. The day for the convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is drawing near hence, all aspirants are putting finishing touches on their mobilisation for support from different parts of the country. 

There is no doubt, all the eminent Nigerians who have so far indicated interest to occupy the number one seat of the APC are qualified to run the affairs of the party. This is because of their experience as politicians and many other positions they have held in the past. 

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However, a careful assessment of all the contestants indicates that Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is the man that has the capacity to rescue the party and restore its near-lost glory. 

Senator Al-Makura, a former governor of Nasarawa State and now senator, has shown capacity and leadership over the years as a man that can be trusted with power at any level. 

When he was governor of Nasarawa State, there was no doubt, even enemies of the state attested to the fact that the state witnessed tremendous development in all facets within the eight years of his administration. 

That is why many Nigerians, both within and outside the APC, believe that Sen. Al-Makura is the messiah that is coming to transform the party from its many challenges, including internal squabbles and divisions, and take it to victory in the 2023 general elections. 

The confidence of most Nigerians on Sen. Al-Makura is based on the fact that even when he was in a minority party – the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – he was able to dislodge well-established and strong party in power.   

It would be recalled that in 2011, Tanko Al-Makura demonstrated  uncommon political prowess when he led the newly formed CPC to upstage a well-entrenched incumbent PDP government in his state in the governorship election, thereby becoming the only CPC governor in the country. 

As the APC is facing a very delicate and dicey moment in its history where there is so much uncertainty and anxiety giving that President Muhammadu Buhari will no more be contesting in 2023, the party needs strong people to take-over and lead it to victory in 2023. 

Another factor that is making Sen. Al-Makura’s candidature appealing is the fact that it is time to pay back the elements of the old CPC who worked tirelessly for the emergence of the APC. 

The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, reiterated this fact recently while speaking at Gudi, his home town. 

The governor had appealed to the party leaders to consider Nasarawa State because it was the only state that provided the CPC a platform leading to the merger in 2013 that gave birth to the APC. 

“Two of the legacy parties; ACN and ANPP, each produced two national chairmen of the APC. The only legacy party that is yet to produce the national chairman is the CPC,” Gov. Sule stressed. 

It is also worth noting that despite the massive support it has given over the years, the North Central geo-political zone of the country has not been given the opportunity to provide the leader of the ruling APC since the party’s formation. This, therefore, provides an opportunity for the APC leadership to consider Nasarawa State, and indeed Sen. Al-Makura is the man whose head fits the cap. 

It is also important to note that President Muhammadu Buhari, who was at the centre of the merger in order to provide a platform for him to win the 2015 general election, had Nasarawa State as the only state controlled by his party – the CPC and as providence would have it, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura was the governor of the state. 

Many stakeholders of the APC across the country believe that CPC and, indeed, the two-term governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Al-Makura, should be rewarded for his patience, resilience and immense contributions to the success of the APC over the years. 

They also postulate that Senator Al-Makura has demonstrated, over the years, that he is a good ambassador of the party following the legacy projects he executed in Nasarawa State. This led him to be nick-named as the ‘Architect of modern Nasarawa State’. 

While re-echoing the need to reward the CPC and Senator Al-Makura, one of his supporters, Professor Mohammed Mainoma, recently said: “The contributions of Tanko Al-Makura at the national sphere are commendable. It was in Nasarawa State that the real Buhari agenda was implemented. It was what made the nation to become more convinced to accept Buhari as a leader. 

“The actual implementation of CPC agenda in Nasarawa has cleared the minds of sceptics as to the capacity of the new party to do magic. 

“It was therefore easy after the merger for people to have confidence in APC. Indeed, Nasarawa became the laboratory for APC.” 

It is, therefore, important to reiterated that as far the APC is concerned and as far as the party wants to win the 2023 general elections, it needs a party chairman who has the capacity and the gift to make that possible. 

Leaders and, indeed, members of the party, should therefore, rally round Sen. Al-Makura because he is on a mission to rescue and restore the glory of the party. 

Busu sent this piece from Lafia