Strong indications have emerged that the Presidency may have given the green light for stakeholders to begin the search for a replacement for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
The Villa, which has been silent over Ganduje’s recent political travail, is said to have “commissioned” APC governors from the North Central geo-political zone to begin a search for a new chairman from the region as originally planned by the party.
A top party source saidy that besides the North Central Zone producing the next chairman, the Villa might be open to allowing the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) camp within the party to produce Ganduje’s replacement as part of appeasement moves.
It was further learnt that those opposed to Ganduje’s continued stay, including a serving senator who was a former governor of a South South state, listed his perceived handling of the Edo and Ondo primaries as well as the unfolding drama surrounding the probe into his tenure as Kano State governor.
Ganduje’s woes, it was also gathered, are being compounded by an alleged plan for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate in 2023, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to return to the APC, a claim confirmed to NewMailNG by a former commissioner and APC chieftain in Kano State, Musa Ilyasu Kwankwaso.
Also, the agitation by APC stakeholders in the North Central zone for the return of the chairmanship position to their zone has not helped Ganduje’s case. The immediate past governor of Kano State is from the North West Zone.
The APC chairman has been locked in an intriguing legal battle in Kano State over moves to suspend him in his ward by some persons claiming to be APC executives.
They hinged their suspension on the probe into Ganduje’s administration over alleged financial misappropriation by Governor Abba Yusuf.
While Ganduje blames the NNPP-led administration in the state for his travails, the APC leadership, at federal and state levels, has since distanced themselves from the suspension moves.
However, the embattled chairman is fighting back and battling to salvage his job. Party sources told NewMailNG that he had reached out to some governors to help him stave off those angling to remove him from office.
It was gathered that he recently pleaded with a governor from a North Central State to urge an aggrieved aspirant to withdraw his suit, seeking to stop him from parading himself as chairman.
A serving senator and former national chairmanship aspirant is said to have also been recruited to ensure the case is dropped.
NewMailNG recalls that an APC chairmanship aspirant in 2022, Muhammad Etsu, is seeking a legal injunction to stop Ganduje from parading himself as national chairman.
He had earlier argued for the national chairmanship seat to return to the North Central Zone.
In the build-up to the 2022 national convention, the APC had zoned the position to the North Central, which saw Senator Abdullahi Adamu emerge as national chairman.
He resigned in 2023, paving the way for Ganduje, who hails from the North West, to become chairman.
However, the party source told our correspondent that another North Central governor is backing the move to remove Ganduje.
The governor, according to a party source, is seeking Ganduje’s removal because he appears to have taken sides with the governor’s political opponent (a top government official) in the state.
Attempts to get Ganduje’s reaction on the issues were not successful, as calls and messages to his media handlers were not responded to.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the APC-led presidency adopted the silence option over Ganduje’s ordeal, in light of unfolding political intrigues in the North ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
With the frayed political romance between President Bola Tinubu and some of his allies in the region, it might “be convenient to forge new alliances, which might involve making tough decisions,” a source said.
The source, who neither confirmed nor denied the Kwankwaso angle, however, said the president would need to firm his base in the region, having seemingly fallen out with some politicians, like former Kaduna governor, Nasir el-Rufai.
“So he might be firmer to ask himself what political value the embattled chairman has to him ahead of 2027. Kano State is a strategic state that any incumbent or presidential candidate would need to have on his side,” the party chieftain said.
Another APC chieftain, who also pleaded not to be named, said Tinubu is keeping quiet on the issues about Ganduje because he single handedly brought him to the position.
The source said: “Unlike in the case of Adams Oshimhole who was elected at a national convention and was not the then President Muhammadu Buhari candidate, hence he was allowed to sink, Ganduje is more or less an appointee of the president, and, though quiet, he is enjoying the protection of Villa.
“Unlike Buhari, Tinubu could be blunt and tell Ganduje to go if he is not satisfied with his leadership as the APC chairman. Also, in the case of Oshiomhole, the APC governors were not on his side, but it seems the governors are with Ganduje or they simply are not interested in what is happening.”
A former APC national vice chairman, North-West, Salihu Lukman, said the only strong qualification of Ganduje as the party’s chairman is his close relationship with the president.
