Nkire: APC Returning to Power in 2023 Depends on Choice of National Chair

Nseobong Okon-Ekong, Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sam Nkire, has said the chances of the ruling party retaining power in 2023 depended on the choice of its national chairman in the proposed February national convention of the APC.

This is as the National Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, has concluded plans to lead the Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya and top shots of the party to meet with Senator Danjuma Goje, over the reorganisation of the party structure in the state this week.

In a related development, APC stakeholders in Nasarawa State, have declared their support for the Chairmanship aspiration of Mallam Saliu Mustapha, even as the posters of one of the chairmanship aspirants, Alhaji Sani Abdulahi Shinkafi, has flooded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

However, Nkire, in a statement yesterday said the type of chairman that APC needed for the battle in 2023 must be a man or woman nationally known in the country, a strategist, a fighter and a winner.
“The choice we make for National Chairman of the APC, during the forthcoming National Convention, will make or mar our chances of returning to power in 2023.

“The whole world has seen the card our opponents, the PDP played in choosing Senator Ayu,as its natural chairman; it is now left for us to play the joker,” he said.

Nkire, however, echoed what President Muhammadu Buhari said, that the ruling party might lose to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if the party failed to get its acts together by choosing the right man or woman for the job.

He was of the view that there was no reason why the ruling party not retain power in the next general elections, if party leaders would heed Buhari’s advice to carry along a majority of members, in deciding who represents the party at all times.

Meanwhile, Buni’s assignment to Gombe was said to be part of the resolutions reached at the Abuja meeting, where he and other leaders of the party reconciled Yahaya and Goje.

Yahaya and Goje had been at daggers-drawn over the control of party structure in the state. The crisis trailing the congresses of the ruling party in Gombe was ballooned following the attack on Goje’s convoy in the state last year.

To reconcile the two politicians, Buni, last Wednesday, led party’s top shots to the residence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu in Abuja, where Yahaya and Goje were reconciled.

At the meeting attended by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, senators and former governors of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima and Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, among others, it was resolved that the peace pact should be implemented in two folds.
A source at the meeting hinted THISDAY that Yahaya and Goje were urged to sheath their swords and allow peace to reign.

“The party leaders appealed to both Governor Yahaya and Senator Goje to allow peace to reign in line with Islamic teachings,” he said.

The source, which pleaded anonymity said the second leg of the peace pact was that the congress of the party conducted in Gombe State, where allies of Goje were edged out, should be realigned to accommodate supporters of the former governor.

“The governor and the senator agreed to this. This was the second phase of the outcome of the peace meeting,” he added.

Another claimed it was resolved that Buni should lead Gombe governor, his Borno State counterparts, Babagana Zulum, his predecessor, Shettima to meet with Goje at his Abuja residence this week.
“It is expected that the reorganisation of the party structure in Gombe would be done during the meeting at Goje’s residence in Abuja,” the source, a lawmaker said.

However, a few days after a former secretary to the Nasarawa State government, Mr. Phillip Dada, pledged to rally support for Mustapha in a bid to realised his chairmanship aspiration, the aspirant, in a statement yesterday by the Head of his Media Office, Mr. Dapo Okubanjo, said stakeholders made this known when they visited him in Abuja.

He said the delegation was led by APC Chairman in Keffi, Mr. Mohammed Soja, noting that the stakeholders were emphatic on their readiness to back the former Deputy National Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Soja was quoted as saying many of them believed that Mustapha deserved the position based on his antecedents as a party administrator in his CPC days and his clean record of performance.
“You are well deserving of the position, you have the experience and age is on your side. You are humble and welcoming to everyone. We know of your antecedents since the CPC days and we strongly believe this is your time to move our party forward.

“We know that you are a formidable contender and we are convinced that even if the party’s national leadership eventually opts for consensus, you would be the favoured candidate,” he added.

Responding, Mustapha reaffirmed his position on equity and justice, saying, “I have said it before and I will say it again, on my watch as party chairman, there will be a level playing field for all. No popular candidate will be denied the chance to represent the party provided that they duly emerge in line with party guidelines,” he assured.

Yet, posters which boldly bore Shinkafi’s pictures and name surfaced yesterday in Abuja and were strategically posted on public infrastructure like traffic kiosks, bus stops in Garki, Central Area, Maitama, Wuse 11 Gwarinpa Airport Road around APC National Secretariat and Shehu Shagari way opposite Federal Ministry of Justice in the FCT.

Shinkafi had on October 26th, 2021, declared his intention to run for the APC national chairmanship.
He had in his notification letter to Buni stated that, “After wide consultations and discussions with my family, friends and political associates, I have decided to heed the call to contest for the office of the National Chairman of our great party the APC”.
Shinkafi had served variously as the National Secretary and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) before joining the APC.