Governors Defy Buhari As Former PDP Chiefs Take Top Positions In New APC NWC

A new National Working Committee, NWC of the All Progressives Congress, APC topped by two former members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP emerged early on Sunday morning after APC governors decided to defy President Muhammadu Buhari’s choice of four of the five top positions in the party.

Remarkably, two former chieftains of the PDP are now on top of the party leadership as national chairman and national secretary.

Though the governors kicked against majority of those nominated by the president, a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who is on top of the list of five, emerged as national chairman of the ruling party following ratification of his nomination at the national convention held at the Eagles Square, Abuja.

In a 12-page document circulated at the beginning of the convention, the 22 governors of the party named 78 persons for national and zonal positions that were up for grabs after initial micro-zoning. The document was signed by all the governors.

The governors, however, left out a former Senate President Ken Nnamani, a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, Ife Oyedele, an engineer and Waziri Bulama, an architect. The four men were tipped for deputy national chairman (South), deputy national chairman (North), national secretary and organising secretary.

In their places, the APC governors nominated Chief Emma Enuekwu, Senator Abubakar Kyari, Senator Iyiola Omisore, and Suleiman Argungu for strategic positions in the NWC.

The opposition to the four men confirmed Daily Trust’s exclusive story on Wednesday, which reported the scheming by governors and other chieftains to edge out the president’s nominees.

The emergence of the new NWC has officially ended the timeline of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, which was inaugurated on June 25, 2020, following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC.

Buhari had summoned governors of the party last Wednesday to the state house in Abuja, where it was agreed that the party’s national working committee should emerge by consensus.

Following President Buhari’s intervention, six of the chairmanship aspirants who were in the race with Adamu withdrew on the convention day.

Adamu is from the North-Central where the party had zoned the position of the national chairman.

The six aspirants who stepped down for Senator Adamu are the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume; a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdullaziz Yari; Senator Sani Musa (Niger-East) and a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

Others are a former deputy national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Saliu Mustapha; a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Tanko Al-Makura and Saidu Etsu.   

The aspirants made their decision known in a letter dated March 25, 2022 and obtained by Daily Trust on Sunday.

The letter, which was addressed to the chairman, APC Election Su-Committee and signed by Akume reads, “May I kindly refer to the appeal by Mr President for the chairmanship aspirants of our great party to agree to a consensus arrangement wherein our colleague, Sen Abdullahi Adamu is made our consensus candidate for the chairmanship position.”

Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State had earlier said unity list would emerge as a guide for the emergence of new officers.

With additional reports from Daily Trust

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