Niger State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Haliru Zakari Jikantoro, has resigned.
Jikantoro announced his resignation after an emergency meeting with other state officials of the APC held at the Party Secretariat in Minna.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Jikantoro also announced the Niger North Vice-chairman, Alhaji Aminu Bobi, as the Acting Chairman, expressing the belief that his exit would bring better fortunes to the party in the state.
“I have made a wide range consultations before taking this decision. It’s by way of adding value to the party itself. And I likely going to perform better in future in adding value to the party. So, there’s no crisis as many people would think of, no fight,” he said.
Though he said his resignation was on personal ground, some insiders confided in Daily Trust that it was due to the prolonged friction between him and Governor Mohammed Bago since the primaries.
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Some said the chairman and governor had not been comfortable with each other due to the internal crisis that engulfed the party since primaries for the 2023 elections.
A source said the current governor feels did not enjoy the support of the state party chairman during primaries.
Another source said the recent congratulatory visit to Mohammed Idris, the ministerial nominee from Niger State by the APC Chairman did not also go down well with the governor.
Idris was the strongest opposition to the incumbent Governor in the 2022 governorship primaries.
Some observers said the 2027 race is already taking shape in the state APC, with Malagi likely to contest against the incumbent governor.
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