Buhari insists on rotational Presidency, Adamu as APC Chairman
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari has put his foot down that the Presidency be zoned to the South as agreed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 23 February that all current posts held by the North and the South be swapped in 2023.
Buhari, just before he flew out to Kenya on Tuesday, bared his mind at a meeting with some members of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) who tried to persuade him to alter the zoning of some positions already agreed.
He stood his ground on the original agreement and also insisted that his preferred candidate, former Nasarawa Governor Abdullahi Adamu – now a Senator – should become the next APC Chairman, a post zoned to the North Central.
PGF Chairman and Kebbi Governor Abubakar Bagudu told journalists that other decisions taken at the meeting on Tuesday included:
- APC national convention will not be shifted from 26 March
- The zoning formula agreed last week will not be changed.
After the first meeting Buhari held with APC Governors at the Villa on 23 February, Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai briefed journalists and announced that the party had reached an agreement on swapping positions between North and South.
“We have agreed a zoning formula for all the six geo-political zones. Essentially, Northern zone will have the positions the South have had in the last eight years, and vice versa. It is a very simple, equitable and fair formula.
“We will now go back and consult at the zonal levels and look at the positions that are available and the process of the convention preparation will be started in earnest.
“So, by the grace of God, on the 26th of March, we would have done our national convention,” Rufai said.
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Related articles:
APC zones presidency to the South
Buhari prefers consensus option in picking APC leadership, says Bagudu
2023 Presidency: No need for zoning, says Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura
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Opposition to Adamu
Some in the APC Governors Forum made efforts on Tuesday to persuade Buhari not to grant audience to their colleagues who reject Adamu and the zoning of some positions, but not the Presidency.
However, other APC Governors with greater influence prevailed on Buhari to hold the meeting, per reporting by The Nation.
The division made APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) Chairman and Yobe Governor Mai Buni to stay away from the meeting.
“At the meeting, the President disowned a fresh zoning arrangement proposed and presented by three governors and the names suggested for some offices,” a source told The Nation.
“He reconfirmed the original zoning formula adopted by the PGF last week and insisted on Abdullahi Adamu as his choice for Chairman at the convention. The three Governors trying to alter the zoning formula were all crest fallen at the meeting today.
“Mai Mala Buni did not show up because he got wind of what was going to happen at our meeting with Mr President. Maybe, he didn’t want to be caught up in the crossfire of the divided PGF.
“The three Governors included one from the South East, another from the South West and the last from the North Central. They were not happy that their influential colleagues even got [to know of] the meeting scheduled.
“They and their agents in the Villa did everything to block the meeting from holding but they did not succeed.”
The PGF was led to the meeting by its Chairman and Kebbi Governor Atiku Bagudu.
Sources with knowledge of what transpired at the meeting said the APC South East Caucus was also displeased with the zoning of the office of APC Secretary to the South West, instead of the South East.
Bagudu urged APC South East Governors to accept the zoning agreement, telling them that it was too late to change it, but they insisted on referring the matter back to the PGF during its meeting on Tuesday night in Abuja.
Bagudu said the Governors met with Buhari to congratulate him for signing the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and on the victory of the APC in some by-elections last weekend.
Other governors at the meeting included:
- Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti)
- Aminu Masari (Katsina)
- Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna)
- Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa)
- Yahaya Bello (Kogi)
- Hope Uzodinma (Imo)
- Gboyega Oyetola (Osun)
- Dapo Abiodun (Ogun)
- Sani Bello (Niger)
- Umar Ganduje (Kano)
- Nkem Okeke (Anambra Deputy Governor)
Division over Adamu, Nnamani
APC National Stakeholders (APCNS), a pressure group, has vowed to resist attempts to impose Adamu as APC Chairman at the convention.
APCNS spokesman Audu Aliyu told reporters in Abuja on Tuesday that individuals cannot sit in their zones and decide who gets what in the party, insisting that the endorsement of any aspirant violates democratic principles.
Apart from Adamu, who had defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC, Aliyu alleged a plot to present another PDP defector, former Senate President Ken Nnamani as APC Deputy National Chairman (South), per Nigerian Tribune.
Adamu’s choice violates democratic principles, says Aliyu
Aliyu said: “The lingering and now widespread speculation as to the plan to bring … Adamu as the APC National Chairman in the forthcoming convention, where loyal, qualified and competent foundation members of the APC are also in the race, is not only an aberration but a violation of the established principle of APC which respects long term fidelity to the party and frowns at every vestige of injustice.
“While it is within his constitutional rights to vie for any position within the APC or even the country as a whole, we believe that the individuals who are purportedly behind the plot to make … Adamu the next APC National Chairman cannot sit down alone in their zones and decide who gets what, more so when the individual in question is of the PDP stock ….
“His recent assignment as the Chairman of the reconciliation committee is a case in hand.
“Even though he failed grossly in reconciling aggrieved members of our party, particularly from all the states he visited, … Adamu failed to accord recognition to the critical mass of young people in the party who are even more aggrieved by the people he consulted during the so-called reconciliation process.
“Added to the issue of his capacity and competence is the issue of his unresolved cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“The APC, especially as a party that prides itself as one that frowns against corruption, cannot afford to have any individual with questions to answer as her leader and we, the stakeholders, will not be party to any sort of travesty on our party’s anti-corruption ideology ….
“We therefore believe that any endorsement of … Adamu, either purported or real, as the Chairman of our party is a very dangerous gamble, one that signals a return of our much beloved progressive party to the hands of the original PDP members.
Aliyu questions Nnamani’s loyalty
“We are also not unaware of plans to also bring another member of the party from the stock of the [PDP] in the person of former Senate President Ken Nnamani, to serve as the Deputy National Chairman (South) of [APC].
“While he is known publicly to be a member of the [APC], there are several instances where his loyalty to the party has been questioned.
“Information out there is that he has continued to be a member of APC in the day time and a member of PDP at night, and while this information has not been proven to be true, the APC would be playing safe by refusing to hand over such an important position of Deputy National Chairman to a man whose loyalty once completely lied in the opposition.
“At this point in the life of the APC, what we need is a leader that can midwife us away from the damages caused to the party over the years and definitely not an individual who does not originally share in the ideals of the APC nor one whose temperament and level of tolerance will further deepen the disappointments of already disillusioned party members.
“As stakeholders, we would rather throw our weight behind an aspirant whose integrity is unquestionable, someone who has demonstrated a proven capacity for youth inclusion and the ability to harvest the energy of young people to drive party activities, especially in this age of digital and social media mobilisation.”
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