The North Central stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, have renewed their calls for the return of the national chairmanship position to the region.
Daily Nigerian reports that former Governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje was appointed national chairman of the ruling party in August 2023, following the resignation of Abdullahi Adam.
The appointment sparked agitation from the North Central stakeholders who claimed their position was unjustly given to Mr Ganduje, who hails from the North West region.
Addressing a press conference on behalf of the stakeholders in Abuja on Thursday, a former national chairmanship aspirant of the APC, Mohammed Saidu-Etsu, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to use the occasion of the upcoming National Executive Committee meeting of the party to reverse the injustice done to the region.
According to him, the North Central Zone is the party’s current strongest zone politically, with five out of six governors.
Mr Etsu said: “As you may be aware, the leader of our party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has approved a National Executive Council meeting of our party for next month.
“We commend the president for finally initiating the meeting, which we believe is long overdue. There are many outstanding issues in the party that are of utmost priority to our zone, and our position on it is well documented.
“In setting the agenda for the NEC meeting, therefore, we are appealing to Mr. President to use his good office to resolve the issues regarding the zoning of the party’s chairmanship back to the North Central zone where the seat originally belongs.
“The North Central Zone as a collective is the party’s strongest zone politically today. Five out of the six states in the zone are controlled by the party. This is a national high by percentage.
“We urge Mr. President to consolidate this acceptance of our party in the zone by rewarding the hard work of our party members in the zone.
“But more importantly, by ensuring that the chairmanship of the party zoned back to the North Central, the president will ensure that the yearlong injustice to the zone is righted.
“Since the last reorganisation of the party, all the zones were adequately replaced except for the North Central, which still been left in the cold. We want to also take our seat in the comity of our peers,” he added.
Daily Nigerian
