• Promoters make case for Northern Christian replacement From Fred Itua, Abuja
The emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president-elect and Kashim Shettima as Vice President-elect respectively, has continued to elicit some ripples within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Saturday Sun gathered that some stakeholders in the party are insisting that the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, a Muslim, should resigned forthwith and be replaced by a Christian, preferably from the North.
Both Tinubu and Shettima are also Muslims. Prior to and after their emergence in February, there had been conflicting arguments and sentiments on the issue of a same-faith ticket.
While some sections of the country seemed unmoved by such a ticket, some sections of the country’s Christian community rejected the idea. As parts of moves then to douse the tension created by the ticket, stakeholders in the ruling APC had pushed for the replacement of Abdullahi Adamu as chairman of the ruling party.
Despite the moves, President Muhammadu Buhari, governors and other party leaders, deflated the attempts and insisted that it was risky to replace Adamu halfway into a critical election.
However, since Tinubu’s emergence, the promoters of Adamu’s replacement have resumed hostilities and are insisting that a Christian from the North Central should be picked by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
The move is coming amidst series of crises rocking the party. Already, the national secretary of APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore and the national vice chairman (North West), Salihu Lukman, are at loggerheads over the alleged siphoning of Osun State governorship election campaign funds.
Lukman, who is believed to be leading the fresh offensive against Adamu and Omisore, advocated their replacement as part of measures to balance the incoming administration of Tinubu whose deputy is of the same faith as him.
He said now that the election had been won by APC and Tinubu, it was important to demonstrate that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was simply an electoral strategy and indeed represented a progressive template for inclusion in Nigerian politics.
He said: “For this to be achieved, APC and its leadership must not allow individual politics of personal aspiration by potential office holders to drive the process of constituting the next Federal Government to be led by Asiwaju Tinubu and Sen. Shettima as President and Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Individual aspirations by potential office holders may only result in unmanageable contests for positions in the next Federal Government and could further complicate the challenges of inclusive politics in the country. Besides, unregulated contest was what produced the rebellious leadership of Sen. Bukola Saraki and Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara in the National Assembly in 2015.”
Similarly, leading Civil Society Organisations, Conference of Nigeria Civil Rights Activists (CNCRA), are also calling for the ouster of Adamu in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.
The CNCRA said Adamu’s exit as APC national chairman would ensure power balancing in the incoming administration headed by Tinubu.
Convener, Pastor Ifeanyi Odili, and Secretary, Sina Akadiri, said Adamu’s resignation would also be a great opportunity for the All Progressives Congress to assuage the feelings of Christians towards the same faith arrangement of the party in the recently concluded Presidential Election.
The CNCRA said: “Adamu should toe the path of honour and statesmanship by tendering his letter of resignation after the Governorship and House Assembly elections.”
Saturday Sun has gathered that the fresh onslaught against Adamu has the backing of top echelons of the APC, governors and senior aides of Tinubu, who in the past, repeatedly accused him of undermining the presidential campaigns of the party.
One of the sources said the plan is to ease Adamu out as soon as possible, if the National Executive Committee (NEC) is held, where issues about religious balancing and other concerns would be addressed.
He said Tinubu had yet to make his position known on the fate of Adamu, but his aides are optimistic that the president-elect would throw his weight behind the chairman’s planned removal at the appropriate time.
The APC member claimed that Tinubu is working round the clock to get the support of Nigerians, especially Christians and would support any attempt that would make his job easier.
He said governors who have been fully briefed, also support the move. But he said some of the governors seemed a bit aloof towards the issue because they were in a hurry to execute some of their plans before the May 29 handover date, when new governors will step in.
He said: “During the campaigns, Adamu was accused many times of working to sabotage the elections of Tinubu. He didn’t put up any strong resistance if you recall. There was a call that he should be kicked out. That didn’t fly because of the elections.
“Now that Tinubu has emerged, one had expected that Adamu will honourably resign to pave the way for a Christian party chairman. He knows that many Nigerians are not in bed with APC because of claims that it favours Muslims.
“If Adamu doesn’t help himself by stepping down, I can assure you that he will be kicked out. The only person supporting him is Buhari. And Buhari has less than three months to go. He can’t survive the forces against him in the coming days.” https://sunnewsonline.com/fresh-moves-to-remove-apc-chair/Nlfpmod |
