APC crisis looms as demands for the resignation of the National Chairman increase

Strong signs point to an impending crisis within the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party in power, as calls for Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman, to resign from his position as presiding officer of the National Assembly increase.

According to a group operating under the auspices of the Conference of Nigeria Civil Rights Activists (CNCRA), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman of the APC, has been urged to resign immediately in the interests of equity, fairness, and justice. The group also claimed that his resignation would ease Christians’ concerns.

Pastor Ifeanyi Odili, the group’s convener, and Engr. Sina Akadiri, its secretary, signed a statement on Sunday in Abuja in which they claimed that Adamu’s resignation as APC National Chairman would ensure power balance in the new Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress administration.

According to rights activists, Adamu’s resignation would also be a great chance for the All Progressives Congress to appease Christians’ concerns about the party’s shared adherence to Christianity in the recently held Presidential Election.

The call from CNCRA comes before the elect Senators and members of the House of Representatives meet with the National Working Committee, NWC of the APC on Monday at 2 p.m. at the Banquet Hall, Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, to discuss which zone will elect the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the eight key positions in both the Upper and Lower Chambe.

Salihu Mohammed Lukman, the National Vice Chairman of the APC for the Northwest, has received praise from the group for his call for a power balance in the incoming APC-led government and for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

As a measure to counterbalance the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose vice is also of the same faith as him, Lukman had on Friday called for the replacement of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, with a Christian.

In a lengthy piece titled “APC Internal Dynamics and the Future of Democracy” and written in tribute to the party’s late national welfare secretary, Barr. Friday Nwosu, who passed away on Thursday, Lukman also called for the removal of the party’s national secretary, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, whose election has led to severe divisions within the Osun state APC.

The CNCRA further argued that the National Chairman should exit the scene honorably in order to balance the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the president-elect Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, saying “Adamu should toe the path of honour and statesmanship by tendering his letter of resignation after the Governorship and House Assembly elections.

“His action would be appreciated and praised by Christians, and it will also open the door for the emergence of a ranking North Central senator to fill one of the two Senate leadership positions in the upcoming 10th National Assembly.”

The pro-right activists stated that they were thrilled to learn of Lukman’s patriotic appeal to the former governor of Nasarawa State to renounce his office in favor of peace, unity, and harmony.

The CNCRA acknowledged Adamu’s and the North Central geopolitical region’s significant contributions to the recently held presidential and national assembly elections.

It was stated that the ruling APC ought to make amends for the area by ensuring that a trustworthy, obedient, and highly-ranking senator is elected as either the President or Deputy Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.

“As right activists, we have followed and observed with keen interest the recent political developments in the country and have decided to add our voice to the raging controversies over the seemingly unbalanced political system as it affects the structure of top political offices,” the statement read.

“With the emergence of the president-elect and his vice president from Nigeria’s South West and North-East geopolitical zones, it will be fair and just for the APC to zone the National Assembly’s presiding officers’ positions to those regions.

According to popular belief in Nigeria, since the restoration of democracy in 1999, neither the South-East nor the North-Central have produced the country’s president or vice president.

Between 1999 and 2007, the president was produced by the South-West, and the vice president was a man from the North-East.

“In 2007, the North West produced the president, and a man from the South-South was appointed vice president for a four-year term that was scheduled to end in 2011.

The South-South vice president, however, was required to complete the term of his principal, who passed away in 2010. Later, from 2011 to 2015, he was elected president.

“A South-West man served as vice president from 2015 until the present, when the North-West once more seized power.

“It is now obvious that the South East, which has never produced either the President or Vice President, and the North Central should compete for the position of Senate Presidency.

“We therefore implore Senator Adamu Abdullahi, National Chairman of the APC, to vacate his position in order to lead the campaign for the election of a Senate presiding officer from the North Central as a man of honor.

We also implore APC National Working Committee members to support the election of a presiding officer from Adamu’s geopolitical region in order to acknowledge Adamu’s enormous contributions to the party’s up to that point.

The CNCRA is hoping that Senator Abdullahi Adamu will act like a statesman by offering to resign from his position in order to uphold his well-respected honor and integrity.

The Niger East Senatorial District’s Senator Sani Musa is eminently qualified and ought to be given consideration as a Senate presiding officer based on his competence and loyalty to the party, according to our thorough analysis of all the ranking senators-elect from the North Central.

“Having worked closely with the Senate’s current president, Ahmad Lawan, for the past four years, the ranking senator, who also serves as chairman of the committee on Senate services, has sufficient parliamentary leadership experience.

His colleagues in the National Assembly as well as the APC family at large adore and respect him, and he has no criminal record to hang him down.

“We are confident that he would do everything in his power to stabilize the country and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s incoming administration through effective parliamentary legislation and oversight that would address issues like security and revenue leaks.”

(TNT)