Africa-Press – Nigeria. Ahead of the meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, scheduled for Thursday, 24th June, 2025, President Bola Tinubu has been urged to ensure that the position of the party’s National Chairman is returned to the North-Central.
The North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum made the appeal in a statement by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, released in Abuja on Tuesday ahead of the NEC meeting.
It is expected that the APC NEC will at the meeting deliberate on crucial issues in the party, chief of which is the possible appointment of a substantive National Chairman to replace Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, who resigned from the position in June.
In the statement signed by Zazzaga, a member of the APC campaign council in the 2023 election, the North-Central APC Forum said returning the position of National Chairman to the region is the only fair and just decision that could be taken at the NEC meeting.
The Forum noted that, beyond being the region that should produce the National Chairman, going by the subsisting zoning arrangement, the North-Central also deserves the position due to its contributions to the success and development of the APC.
Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, became APC National Chairman when the position was zoned to the North-Central during the party’s National Convention in March 2022 but he resigned in July 2023 without completing the tenure, leading to the appointment of Abdullahi Ganduje, ex-Kano State governor, as National Chairman in August 2023.
Ganduje, on his part, resigned from the position on June 27, 2025 and currently, Ali Bukar Dalori, the Deputy National Chairman (North), from Borno State, is holding the office in acting capacity.
“As the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), meets on Thursday, June 24, 2025, we the North-Central APC Forum, appeal to President Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party to do the right thing and ensure that the National Chairman is returned to the North-Central.
“The North-Central has over the years played an important and strategic role in the progress and growth of the APC and any decision that goes contrary to returning the position of National Chairman to the region will amount to betrayal. It will be a terrible disappointment to stakeholders of the North-Central if the NEC fails to uphold fairness and equity by retuning the National Chairman to the region,” the statement said.
Insisting that the North-Central deserves to have the position of APC national chairman, the Forum said the region had over time paid its dues in the development of the party and cannot be sidelined.
The statement added, “North-Central deserves to produce the APC National Chairman due to the region’s contributions to the party. The North-Central gave President Bola Tinubu and the APC the third highest number of votes in the 2023 presidential poll – behind the South-West and North-West.”
Tinubu received 1,760,993 votes (41.3%) in the North-Central in 2023. Peter Obi of the Labour Party got 1,415,557 votes (33.2%) while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party received 1,025,178 votes (24.1%) in the region.
“Among the various geopolitical zones, the North-Central has the highest number of APC governors. APC controls five of the six North-Central states – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa and Niger. This unmatched record demonstrates the strength and the wide acceptance of the party in the region.
“Returning the position of National Chairman to the North-Central, in accordance with the zoning arrangement of the APC, is not a favour, rather it is well deserved,” the statement said.
Speaking further, the APC Forum argued that the North-Central and the North-West are the two zones that are totally behind President Bola Tinubu.
“Only North-West and North-Central believe in President Bola Tinubu 100 percent. We don’t want a situation where our people will at the end of the day feel that their contributions are not appreciated. We therefore appeal to the President to use the opportunity of this NEC meeting to return the National Chairman to the North-Central.”
The North-Central APC Forum, in the same vein, rejected calls for the extension of acting National Chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori’s tenure until after the national convention.
The call was made by a group, All Progressives Stakeholders Forum, in an open letter signed by their leader, Dr Maryam Danjaki, and addressed to President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
According to the All Progressives Stakeholders Forum, any reshuffling or tampering with the current leadership of the APC may ignite internal unrest, weaken cohesion and provide political opportunists with the chance to exploit the situation.
However, countering the call, the North-Central APC Forum noted that allowing Dalori to continue in office would amount to “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as it would mean that the North-East, where Dalori comes from, will occupy the position of national chairman at the expense of the North-Central. Dalori is from Borno State in the North-East.
The Forum noted that the North-Central has done more for the APC than the North-East.
“It is on record that the opposition won in the North-East in 2023 even though the running mate of President Bola Tinubu is from the zone,” the statement said.
A breakdown of the results from the 2023 presidential election shows that, in the North-East, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, got the highest number of votes – 1,741,846 (55.9%) – while Tinubu came a distant second with 933,176 votes (29.9%).
The Forum equally dismissed suggestions that reshuffling or tampering with the current leadership of the APC may lead to internal crisis. Rather, the Forum argued that effecting a change in leadership by returning the position of National Chairman to the North-Central will revitalize the party as it would show that the APC is committed to the principles of fairness and equity.
The Forum added, “There are several capable personalities in the North-Central who have the capacity to lead the APC to greater heights. We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to choose anyone of them to lead the party as National Chairman.”
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