The North-Central All Progressive Congress, APC, Forum has asked state chairmen of the party from the region to dissociate themselves from the recent vote of confidence passed on the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje.
It said the vote of confidence which the state chairmen of the party passed on Ganduje last Tuesday is not in the interest of the North-Central or the party in general.
The forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Mandung Zazzaga, disclosed this to journalists in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
He said the North Central APC Forum, along with various leaders and chieftains of the APC from the region, had intensified the push for the zoning of the National Chairmanship position of the party to the region owing to its contribution to the progress of the party and its victory in 2023 elections.
Zazzaga, who was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council in the last election, pointed out that apart from the strong contribution of the North Central to the development and sustenance of the APC over the years, as well as the tremendous support it gave to the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as the president, the region has also delivered five governors for the APC out of the six states in the region.
He maintained that, apart from Plateau State which is of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of which they are still working hard to retrieve, Kwara, Niger, Benue, Kogi, and Nasarawa are of the APC. Therefore the North Central region has made a strong statement in its achievement for the party and deserves the National Chairmanship position of the party.
“So, it is therefore unreasonable that while we are pushing for the National Chairmanship position of the party to be zoned to the North Central in view of our efforts for the progress of the APC and its victories at elections, the party state chairmen from our region would be part of any arrangement or decision to pass a vote of confidence on the embattled National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
“We are not meddling into the issue of Ganduje, as a result of his suspension from the party by his ward in Kano and the court injunctions which followed thereafter.
“And we are also not against Ganduje as person. Our concern is the North Central region. After the 2023 election, we were hoping to get the National Chairmanship position, but it was given to Ganduje who is from the North-West. And since then, we have never relented in pushing for that position.
“All we are after is the rights and privileges of the North-Central region, and the National Chairmanship position remains one of our prominent focus for our efforts.
“So, we are earnestly calling on all the state party chairmen from the region to immediately distance themselves from that vote of confidence passed on Ganduje. Otherwise, we will commence mass protest against them in all the North Central states,” he said.
Zazzaga called on all the party chieftains, members as well as governors from the North Central to support their mission of clinching the National Chairmanship position.
He also called on them to prevail on the state chairmen of the party from the region to distance themselves from any move that would truncate their mission or the interest of the region.