The race for the national chairmanship of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has officially begun with the APC governors on Sunday, agreei
The race for the national chairmanship of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has officially begun with the APC governors on Sunday, agreeing on February 26 as the date for the party to hold its national convention, to elect its national executive officers.
However, with the internal crises rocking the party, there are fears that the party may be unable to hold the convention and so may not be able to meet its June deadline of producing a new party leadership, a development that could prevent the party from even participating in the 2023 elections.
Since section 223 of the Nigerian constitution says all political parties are to elect officers in intervals not exceeding four years, it is implied that the APC must have an elected leadership by June 2022.
The party has also not begun selling forms to aspirants. However, this has not stopped those interested in the chairmanship seat from erecting billboards and placing posters along strategic roads in Abuja.
President Buhari, who claims the main aim of his administration is to fight against corruption has constantly frowned against corrupt persons taking up positions of leadership.
Meanwhile, some aspirants once had cases, or are still battling cases at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Will the President as the leader of the party, and the APC hierarchy be willing to look the other way or will the party insist that anyone is free to contest?
Below is a list of aspiring candidates vying for the position of APC’s national chairman;
Ali Modu Sheriff: Ali Modu Sheriff is a founding member of the APC. He was governor of Borno State between 2003 and 2011. Sheriff defected to the PDP ahead of the 2015 elections and later served as the acting chairman of the party in 2016. In 2018 he returned to the APC. Sheriff has also been under investigation by the EFCC for nearly a decade and has been detained several times for allegedly mismanaging public funds while he was governor. In 2016 he was grilled for allegedly receiving N40m out of the N23bn funds disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Danjuma Goje
Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje was a former Governor of Gombe State between 2003 and 2011, under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party. After leaving office, he spent eight years battling corruption charges leveled against him by the EFCC but in 2019, 17 of the charges were struck out by the court while two were still pending. The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation controversially withdrew the case in 2019 during the race for the Senate Presidency when Goje stepped down for the Presidency’s anointed candidate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.
Sani Shinkafi: Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi was until recently a staunch member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance having run for the governorship of Zamfara State on APGA’s platform in four different elections. He defected to the APC along with Governor Bello Mattawalle and now serves as an aide to the governor.
Abdul’Aziz Yari: Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari is the immediate past Governor of Zamfara State. After spending two terms as governor between 2011 and 2019, he was elected into the Senate. However, the Supreme Court declared that the APC had no candidate in the 2019 elections due to its failure to hold primaries before the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission. This effectively led to the sacking of Yari and others. Yari has been a regular guest of the EFCC. In a court document filed in 2017, the EFCC stated that it received an intelligence in January 2017 alleging “conspiracy, criminal misappropriation of public funds involving the sum of N19,439,225,871.11 out of the Paris Club refunds made by the Federal Government in favour of the 36 states of the federation.”
The commission had in the court filing, sought an order of forfeiture of N500m and $500,000 allegedly recovered from Yari.
Tanko Al-Makura: Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura was governor of Nasarawa State, from 2011 to 2019. He has also been on the EFCC radar in recent times along with his wife. Last year he visited the EFCC headquarters a couple of times to answer questions on money laundering running into billions of naira. The former governor, however, said he was only invited by the EFCC but never detained.
George Akume: George Akume was governor of Benue State, between 1999 and 2007 as a member of the PDP. After his tenure as governor, Akume went on to become a senator and now Minister of Special Duties in President Buhari’s cabinet. He became a subject of an EFCC investigation for allegedly diverting billions of naira in public funds and was detained by the commission.
