The North Central All Progressive Congress (APC) Forum has said that the recent call by President Bola Tinubu to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party towards planning for the national convention is owing to their insistence.
Speaking with newsmen in Jos the Plateau State capital, the forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Mandung Zazzaga, said they are glad that the president has transmitted such a letter for the meeting through his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to the embattled National Chairman of the party, Umar Ganduje.
Zazzaga said the President, in the letter dated 9th August 2024 to Ganduje, is suggesting either September 8 or September 19 for the NEC meeting, adding that either of the dates is okay with them.
According to the Chairman (Zazzaga) who was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council in the last election, their excitement is because the North Central APC has been calling the attention of the President to intervene in several issues affecting the party, and to call for national convention.
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He said the proposed NEC meeting is a stepping stone towards the convention which they have been looking forward to to present their grievances in the party, particularly as it affects the North Central region which is a formidable backbone of the party.
“Our role in APC from the from the North Central perspective right from the 2015 election to the 2023 election was very critical towards the success of the party at the polls.
“Hence, we will not spare any effort to pursue our cause and do things that will generally uplift the North Central zone, while we will continue to deepen our loyalty to the APC in general and continue working for the success of the party in one way or the order.
“And our demand from the North Central is a well-known fact. The North Central APC Forum along with various leaders and chieftains of the APC from the region have been intensifying the push for the zoning of the National Chairmanship position of the party to the region because that position is well deserved by the region owing to its contribution and it is our constitutional right, as well as the party arrangement.
“So, after the resignation of Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa State, someone from the North Central region should have been picked to replace him as the National Chairman, and not Abdullahi Ganduje from the North West state of Kano.
“That is why we have dragged Ganduje to the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the judgement is coming up on September 18 (a day before one of the dates, September 19, proposed by President Bola Tinubu for the convention). In any case, this NEC meeting should resolve so many lingering issues in the party,” he said.
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