The North-Central All Progressives Congress (APC) Discussion board has declared that holding the place of Secretary to the Authorities of the Federation (SGF) can’t cease the area from producing the Nationwide Chairman of the celebration.
The Discussion board made the declaration in an announcement issued by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, on Saturday in Abuja. The assertion was in response to insinuations that the place of SGF ought to be taken away from the North-Central if the area is to supply the Nationwide Chairman of the APC.
The SGF, Senator George Akume, is from Benue State within the North-Central. Following the latest resignation of Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje as Nationwide Chairman, stakeholders from the North-Central are demanding that the place be returned to the area.
Insisting that the North-Central ought to produce the Nationwide Chairman of the APC in step with the celebration’s subsisting zoning association, the Discussion board kicked in opposition to the suggestion that the area can’t have each SGF and Nationwide Chairman.
“The North-Central deserves to supply the SGF and APC Nationwide Chairman as a result of area’s contributions to the celebration. The North-Central gave President Bola Tinubu and the APC the third highest variety of votes within the 2023 presidential ballot – behind the South-West and North-West,” the assertion famous.
Tinubu obtained 1,760,993 votes (41.3%) within the North-Central in 2023. Peter Obi of the Labour Occasion acquired 1,415,557 votes (33.2%) whereas Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Occasion obtained 1,025,178 votes (24.1%) within the area.
“Among the many varied geopolitical zones, the North-Central has the best variety of APC governors. APC controls 5 of the six North-Central states – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa and Niger. This unmatched report demonstrates the power and the vast acceptance of the celebration within the area.
“Returning the place of Nationwide Chairman to the North-Central, in accordance with the zoning association of the APC, just isn’t a favour, quite it’s nicely deserved. The North-Central deserves to supply each the SGF and APC Nationwide Chairman. Holding the place of SGF can’t cease the North-Central from producing the Nationwide Chairman,” the assertion mentioned.
The Discussion board, in the identical vein, faulted calls that the place of APC Nationwide Chairman ought to be reserved for Christians from the North-Central.
Warning these behind the calls to have a rethink, the APC Discussion board careworn that the North-Central is a secular area.
“The politicians who’re mentioning the difficulty of faith are doing so due to their egocentric pursuits. We hereby warn them to have a rethink. The North-Central has traditionally been a secular area and we is not going to permit self-serving people to make use of faith to divide our folks,” the assertion added.
The Discussion board alleged that the actual politicians pushing the spiritual agenda didn’t assist Tinubu and the APC through the 2023 presidential election.
“We all know that these are the identical individuals who labored for Labour Occasion candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, within the final election. They didn’t assist President Bola Tinubu, quite they delivered their polling items to the Labour Occasion,” the Discussion board mentioned whereas urging Tinubu to disregard calls that faith ought to be thought of in deciding on the following APC Nationwide Chairman.
As a substitute of contemplating faith, the North-Central APC Discussion board urged Tinubu to think about observe data in making appointments.
“Solely people with confirmed observe data ought to be thought of for appointment into any place, that’s the solely technique to keep the expansion, progress and dominance of the APC. Some other consideration, together with faith, ought to be jettisoned.
“Our endorsement of Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura for the place of Nationwide Chairman is predicated on his observe data – as a loyal, dedicated celebration man and a political workplace holder who had served as a governor and a senator.
“We imagine that the celebration, and the nation typically, will likely be higher if observe report is taken into account when appointments are made,” the assertion mentioned.
Restating the endorsement of Al-Makura for the place of APC Nationwide Chairman, the Discussion board famous that he’s from the North-Central, notably Nasarawa State, the place the eliminated former nationwide chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, hails from.
The Discussion board additional noticed that Al-Makura is from the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc which is a part of the three legacy events that merged to type the APC. It famous that among the many three legacy events – the Motion Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Occasion (ANPP) – the CPC bloc is the one one which has not held the APC chairmanship place.
The assertion added, “Senator Tanko Al-Makura was a two-term governor whose clout and expertise are pluses and each former and sitting governors will see him as one in every of their very own.
“He was a former Senator who will likely be seen as half and parcel of the legislature. He was among the many chairmanship aspirants who accepted with out grudges the consensus possibility that threw up Abdullahi Adamu as Nationwide Chairman through the APC Nationwide Conference in 2022. His loyalty to APC and Mr. President just isn’t unsure.
“He has discharged vital celebration assignments within the nation that gave him first hand concepts and intrinsic data of the celebration nationally.”
The celebration assignments embrace Chairman, Ekiti State APC Main Election Committee that produced former Governor Kayode Fayemi in 2018. Al-Makura additionally served because the Chairman of the North-East Zone Reconciliation Committee in 2018, and equally as a member of the Baba Bisi Akande APC Reconciliation Committee in 2020.
“He has a really wealthy expertise and data of political actions as he was Youth Chief (Plateau State) in Nationwide Occasion of Nigeria (NPN) – 1979; State Secretary (Plateau State) in Nationwide Republican Conference– 1989; founding member of the Peoples Democratic Occasion (PDP) – 1999; Governor on the platform of the CPC – 2011; pioneer member and signatory to the merger that discovered APC – 2013 and APC Senator – 2019,” the assertion added.
The North-Central APC Discussion board additionally identified that Al-Makura was among the many CPC bloc stakeholders who stood by the APC and President Bola Tinubu when some members needed to tug out of the celebration and be part of the opposition coalition, earlier in 2025.
