'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - A group under the banner of Concerned APC Stakeholders have joined the call to revisit the zoning of the national chairmanship position to the North Central zone.
A text of the press conference held in Abuja on Sunday April 21 appealed to the president, Bola Tinubu and the party's national executive committee to revisit the zoning of the chairmanship in the interest of equity and inclusion.
"Since assuming office after a smooth transition from one APC administration to another, the leader of our party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has lived up to his avowed characteristic as a listening leader. We have seen the manifestation of this rare quality on several occasions in how he has steered the affairs of the country thus far with a broad-based consultation, re-examination, and even reversal of earlier positions or decisions when better-suited arguments are advanced.
"That is why we are calling on the President, and the NEC of our party to immediately swing into action by re-positioning the APC and ensuring an inclusive remake of the NWC where the North Central Zone regains the position of the National Chairman of the party which it lost after the resignation of erstwhile Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.
"On behalf of all APC stakeholders from the country, advocates of inclusive leadership in our party from across the country, and all aspirants who participated in the 2022 elective convention of the party from the zone, we are calling for the retention of the seat of the party Chairman in the zone where the position was micro-zoned in the North" the statement reads in part.
While explaining the rationale for the appeal, the group said: "Perhaps we should consider the merits of North Central regaining this office from how much acceptance the president enjoys in the zone. In the last general election, the president polled 1,760,993 votes ( 41.3% of North Central votes cast) to defeat his closest rival in the zone by a margin of 345, 436 votes. The President got the required 25% votes in all the 6 states of the zone, including the FCT, and won with great lead margin in Niger, Kogi, Kwara, and Benue states.
"By this record, the zone gave the President the third highest votes after North West and South West. The All Progressives Congress should reflect on these factors and ensure they don't leave a friend (The North Central) behind.
"There is no gainsaying the fact that APC in the North Central is blessed with an abundance of competent and capable individuals who parade the credentials to lead the party through its next phase as the Tinubu administration settles down to deliver good governance to the people. That is why we are calling on the party to be more strategic and focus on the bigger picture in the spirit of fairness, equity, and justice, allowing the North Central to produce the next chairman to continue the mandate given to the zone in 2022. And uphold the sanctity of Article 31.5 (I) of our party constitution.
"To our brothers in other zones, we also call on you to stand by us to regain this mandate. We know that our sister zones equally boast an array of competent candidates for the position, but we have not served out our tenure; we acknowledge your qualifications and constitutionally given rights to contest. However, we ask you to join hands with us for the sake of fairness and stability of our party.
"We also call on party leaders and stakeholders to support the North Central aspiration. This would strengthen the party, unite all interests, and pave the way for a formidable APC that will consolidate its position across the board."
They equally urged the party to prevail on the national chairman, Umar Abdullahi Ganduje to obey the order of court restraining him from parading himself as the chairman of the party.
"Significantly, we call on people of conscience to prevail on the Party to obey the order of the High Court of Kano state restraining and prohibiting Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from presiding over the affairs of APC pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction to preserve the respectability and integrity of the party as the governing party. This is so as not to send the wrong signal to Nigerians that the party is anarchic, lawless, and deviates from its aims and objectives which as prescribed in its Constitution, promotes and uphold the tenets of internal democracy, institutionalizes and strictly observe the ideals of the Rule of Law and constitutionality" the statement concluded.
