North Central All Progressive Congress Forum, on Saturday, condemned the endorsement of the embattled national chairman of the party Abdullahi Ganduje, by the Chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum and Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule.
The APC Forum also described the courtesy visit Sule paid to the party secretariat in Abuja on Friday to pledge his support for Ganduje as selfish and in his personal interest rather than in the interest of the North Central region, the APC or President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The Forum’s Chairman, Saleh Zazzaga, said this while addressing journalists in Jos, the Plateau State Capital, on Saturday.
Zazzaga noted that such endorsements by Governor Sule, which is coming when the party stakeholders from the region are pushing for the return of the National Chairmanship position to the North Central is not only “insensitive and mischievous”, but also an act of “betrayal” of the entire region.
The APC Forum chairman, who was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 election, stated that Governor Sule knows well that the National Chairmanship position according to the party arrangement and zoning ought to be for the North Central after the resignation of Abdullahi Adamu who is not only from the North Central region but also from Governor Sule’s own state of Nasarawa.
He said, ”For Governor Sule to openly come out and betray his state and the entire region shows that he is someone who is not after the progress of his own state, the North Central region, and he is not a man of equity and justice.”
Zazzaga also alleged that from the onset, the Nasarawa Governor never supported President Tinubu and did everything to ensure he did not emerge as the APC presidential candidate, because he was nursing a vice presidential ambition with another APC presidential candidate.
He said, ”Since then, Sule has not been doing things in the interest of the administration, and that now he is showing it at the regional level, and even down to his state of Nasarawa.
“Governor Sule is not a founding member of the APC because he came in along the line, and so he does not understand the progressive ideology and drive of the party.
“That is why he is doing things contrary to the concept of the party stakeholders, chieftains, bigwigs and members, as well as supporters.
“Besides we all know that in the 2023 election, the APC in Nasarawa State didn’t perform satisfactorily under Governor Sule; this is obvious in the number of the legislators won by the party as well as the ones the opposition parties clinched.
“It is also a known fact that Governor Sule didn’t do well at the 2023 polls and if not for the judiciary which upheld his election, anything could have happened and APC would have lost the state.
“By and large, what has been Governor Sule’s contribution to the progress of the APC since he joined the party? Again, what have been his development indices and strides in Nasarawa State? With the increase in allocation gotten by the states today, what has Nasarawa State been able to do or has to show under Governor Sule?
“And time and again, we have had grumblings in many quarters about the leadership style of Governor Sule in the state which many frown upon.
“Therefore, he is not a good ambassador of the party and he is by no means in a position to speak for the North Central region or stakeholders of the party.”
Zazzaga urged all the North Central governors to disassociate themselves from Governor Sule’s endorsement of Ganduje immediately, alleging that whatever he is doing is for his selfish interest and not the interest of the North Central region.
He said, “Moreover, we all know that Governor Sule is not a firm supporter of President Bola Tinubu, and he will do anything to bring his administration to disrepute and endorsing Ganduje is one of such, since Ganduje has already incurred legal liabilities and other disaffections for the party as the National Chairman.
“And even the Edo and Ondo election which Ganduje leadership produced the APC flag bearers could be another mistake as he lacked the legitimacy to do that as his position is being contested and unrecognised, and so his action in Edo and Ondo could be another future legal liability.”
