Photo: Ex-Gov Abdullahi Ganduje, emerges new APC National Chairman
Ex-Kano Gov Ganduje emerges new APC National Chairman, sworn in
The immediate past Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has been elected as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and sworn in.
Ganduje was sworn after his election at the 12th APC National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton in Abuja on Thursday, August 3, 2023.
The party’s NEC also elected Sen Ajibola Basiru, a former Senate spokesman, from Osun State as its National Secretary.
Addressing party leaders after his emergence, Ganduje thanked President Bola Tinubu and promised that internal democracy would prevail in the party during his tenure.
He pledged to ensure a scientific register of party members and pay utmost attention to election management and conflict resolution, adding that there would be level playing field for all party members during party primaries.
The former Governor promised to hit the ground running in order to ensure victory for the party in the three forthcoming off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa.
Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi are three of the eight states with off-season governorship elections due to past litigations and court judgements. Others are Anambra, Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo.
It would be recalled that in the general elections earlier this year, the APC won the presidential poll and 16 state governorship polls leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 10, the Labour Party (LP) with one state and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) also with a state.
For the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in Kogi, the APC is fielding a former Auditor General of Local Government in the state, Usman Ododo.
In Bayelsa, the party is fielding the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, while in Imo State, incumbent Governor Hope Uzodimma, has thrown his hat into the ring for a second term in office.
Ironically, Ganduje had failed to secure a win for the APC in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Kano State, as NNPP’s Yusuf Kabir, an ally of NNPP erstwhile presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, trounced Ganduje’s candidate, Nasir Gawuna.
Kabir scored 1,019,602 votes to defeat his closest contender, Gawuna, of the APC who polled 890,705 votes. In the February 25 poll, the APC also lost to the NNPP.
