*Over APC National Chairmanship
*Dogara Tipped To Replace Him
*APC Group Fires Plea To Tinubu, Cites Facts,Figures
By Felix Durumbah, Abuja
There are indications that Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief George Akume, could become the next National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Akume may tender his resignation from his current office to take up the new assignment.
The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is slated to meet Thursday, July 24,2025, in Abuja, to deliberate and decide on crucial matters, possibly including the National Chairmanship question.
Akume, a two-term former governor of Benue State, hails from the North-Central geopolitical zone –an area that seeks the return of the party’s National Chairmanship.
The zone has six states -Benue, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The last holder from the zone, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, was appointed following the decision of the APC National Convention in March, 2022, to zone the position to the North-Central.
Adamu resigned in July, 2023, leading to the appointment of former Kano State governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, to the position. He too resigned last June, citing health reasons,though he later accepted appointment as Chairman, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Ganduje, who is from the North-West, was succeeded by Ali Dalori, from Borno State, North-East zone, who holds office currently in acting capacity.
Reliable sources told People&Politics that Akume’s resignation may open the door for the possible appointment of former Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, a far North Christian, to replace him as SGF, as President Bola Tinubu moves to try and satisfy the outcries of Christian far Northerners who consistently accused him of neglect and gross marginalization.
Recall that it was such a feeling of hurt that made APC far North Christian heavyweights such as former SGF in the Muhammadu Buhari presidency, David Babachir Lawal, to quit the party and since launch unceasing scathing campaigns against the President.
It was gathered that the positioning of Akume and Dogara are part of the party’s and presidency’s plans to, respectively, shore up hold in the North-Central and defeat Atiku Abubakar’s African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition’s perceived chokehold on the North-East.
Tinubu lost the North-East to Atiku in the 2023 presidential election. As released by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the results showed that Atiku had a commanding score of 1,741,846 (55.9%) while Tinubu, despite the presence of his running mate -now Vice President Kashim Shettima-, who comes from the zone, garnered a mere 933,176 votes or 29.9%.
Other sources told the newspaper that, stared at by these cold statistics amid the worrying strong challenge being posed to his rumoured 2027 re-election aspiration in the vote-rich North-West by opposition titans led by former Kaduna State governor and the President’s estranged political ally, Nasir El-Rufai, and others, Aso Rock may dump Vice-President Shettima, not over non-performance, but for strategic political calculation reasons, and go for a top politician from Kano State, which has the highest voter base in the country.
As the deep planning within the presidency and APC’s inner circle gathers steam,
a group, the North-Central APC Forum, today urged President Tinubu to ensure the party’s National Chairman position returns to the North-Central.
It took the position in a statement signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, made available to newsmen in Abuja, 48 hours to the party’s NEC gathering.
Zazzaga was a member of the APC Campaign Council in the 2023 election.
According to him, returning the National Chairmanship to the North-Central would be fair and just.
The Forum dug into recent election history, saying aside being the zone mandated in 2022 to produce the National Chairman in line with extant zoning arrangement, the North-Central merits the position based on contributions to party success in the 2023 general elections.
The Forum stated: “As the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), meets on Thursday, June 24, 2025, we the North-Central APC Forum, appeal to President Bola Tinubu and other leaders of the party to do the right thing and ensure that the National Chairman is returned to the North-Central.
“The North-Central has over the years played an important and strategic role in the progress and growth of the APC and any decision that goes contrary to returning the position of National Chairman to the region will amount to betrayal.
“It will be a terrible disappointment to stakeholders of the North-Central if the NEC fails to uphold fairness and equity by returning the National Chairman to the region.
“North-Central deserves to produce the APC National Chairman due to the region’s contributions to the party. The North-Central gave President Bola Tinubu and the APC the third highest number of votes in the 2023 presidential poll – behind the South-West and North-West.”
People&Politics checks reveal that INEC statistics showed that Tinubu notched 1,760,993 votes (41.3%) in the North-Central in 2023 while Labour Party (LP)’s Peter Obi received 1,415,557 votes (33.2%) while Atiku garnered 1,025,178 votes (24.1%).
The Forum added: “Among the various geopolitical zones, the North-Central has the highest number of APC governors. APC controls five of the six North-Central states – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa and Niger.
“This unmatched record demonstrates the strength and the wide acceptance of the party in the region.
“Returning the position of National Chairman to the North-Central, in accordance with the zoning arrangement of the APC, is not a favour, rather it is well deserved.”
The group contended that the North-Central and the North-West stand out in being, according to it, totally behind the President.
Its words: “Only North-West and North-Central believe in President Bola Tinubu 100 percent. We don’t want a situation where our people will at the end of the day feel that their contributions are not appreciated.
“We therefore appeal to the President to use the opportunity of this NEC meeting to return the National Chairman to the North-Central.”
The group thumbed down calls by a rival APC group, All Progressives Stakeholders Forum, led by Dr Maryam Danjaki, to extend Dalori’s tenure till whenever the party’s national convention holds, saying such elongation would amount to “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
To the Forum, the action would mean that the North-East will sit as National Chairman at the expense of the North-Central.
The Forum noted: “It is on record that the opposition won in the North-East in 2023 even though the running mate of President Bola Tinubu is from the zone.”
It added: “There are several capable personalities in the North-Central who have the capacity to lead the APC to greater heights. We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to choose anyone of them to lead the party as National Chairman.”
