Plans are already in motion to make former Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje emerge as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Some party stakeholders had fought to retain the position in the North-Central, particularly favouring Senator Sani Musa of Niger State and former Nasarawa State governor Tanko Al-Makura, to replace Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Ganduje’s emergence as party chairman would further push the bloc of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which produced former President Muhammadu Buhari, to the back seat of the present administration.
According to Leadership, Ganduje, who had made Tinubu’s ministerial list, was asked to nominate someone as his replacement from Kano State during a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and four governors elected on the platform of the APC.
A source within the party who confirmed the development said the choice of Ganduje as the new chairman would be unveiled at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which was postponed indefinitely on Monday.
It was also learnt that a former Senate spokesman in the 9th Assembly, Senator Ajibola Basiru, from Osun State, has been tipped to replace the erstwhile party’s national secretary, Iyiola Omisore.
On the National Chairmanship position, a source said: “President Tinubu has settled for the former Kano state governor Ganduje to replace Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the party’s national chairman.
“The President had listed Ganduje as one of the nominees for ministerial appointment, but because of his trust and confidence in the former governor, President Tinubu has to change his mind and asked two governors (Governor Hope Uzodimma and the Kwara state governor) to persuade Ganduje into another assignment.
“The president also asked him (Ganduje) to nominate another person from Kano for the ministerial job. I can confirm to you that four serving governors of APC, including Imo and Kwara governors led the former governor Ganduje to a meeting with the President on Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of that meeting was for President Tinubu to brief Ganduje directly about the new assignment.”
