•Want vice presidential slot permanently
By Joseph Erunke
Abuja-Ahead of the 2027 general election, the former All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP bloc, in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has given President Bola Tinubu conditions to meet or risks its exit from the ruling party.
The ANPP bloc alleged marginalization by both the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC bloc, and the All Progressives Congress, APC bloc, in the tripartite agreement that formed the national government in 2015.
The ANPP bloc which noted that the CPC bloc had ruled Nigeria for eight years, with the APC currently in power, warned Tinubu against tempering with the vice presidential seat, insisting that the position “remains sacrosanct for the ANPP bloc as the second largest contributor to the formation of APC.”
Speaking at a briefing in Abuja yesterday, members of the bloc, operating under the aegis of Association of Former ANPP Members, demanded inclusivity in the APC government.
The aggrieved ANPP members whose prepared text was read by their National Coordinator, Prof. Vitalis Orikeze Ajumbe, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that the vice presidential seat is made sacrosanct for the ANPP bloc in the governing APC for the 2027 presidential election.
“The ticket you are serving will be disappointed if you choose another person outside the ANPP bloc in APC as your vice President.’’
He said their position was the outcome of the resolution of the meeting they held a few hours before the briefing.
Prof. Ajumbe said: “A few hours ago, we concluded the leadership meeting of the association of former ANPP members of the APC on behalf of millions of our members across the country where we reviewed issues concerning our membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“We looked into our gains since we merged with the former ACN and CPC to form the APC. When our late national chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu initiated this move to bring ACN, CPC and ANPP together to form a mega party, our desire then was to form a mega party that would, not only defeat PDP, but also to give Nigerians good governance.
‘’When APC was eventually formed, the interim leadership offices were equitably shared amongst the legacy Parties of ACN, ANPP and CPC plus some factions of PDP, APGA and DPP which joined the merger.
“In the unanimously adopted formula for the sharing of the party positions, the interim National Chairman was allocated to ACN as it had six serving governors in six states, ANPP which had three governors in three states was allocated the position of interim national secretary.
‘’The CPC , which had one governor, was allocated the position of national treasurer. A faction of APGA which joined then, was allocated the position of the interim national organizing secretary, while the group from PDP, which had no state, was allocated the position of national auditor.
‘’The remaining offices were equitably shared among the parties that came together to form APC. We hoped for better days ahead in APC, but the reverse is now the case.
“The ANPP bloc in APC, suffered serious political marginalization/segregation under late General Muhammadu Buhari as our president for the eight years of his reign.
“ Late Muhammadu Buhari’s abandonment of ANPP where his political career as a member of ANPP started and secured presidential tickets when he ran twice, was quite inhuman. Ideally, he was supposed to treat us like members of his own family, if he had studied his political genealogy-tree very well, but alas, he read it parrot fashion, and that was why he treated us like a club of political pariahs.
“Our ordeal under Buhari was that President Buhari wasn’t a well-groomed politician like the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who started with parish pump politics, to his current status in Nigerian politics.
‘’If politics is truly about equity, justice and fair play, members of the ANPP bloc in the APC should have been given sensitive political positions under President Buhari as the second largest partner of the merger, but we were not, but rather, subjected to nihility and political redundancy.
“ANPP bloc in APC which parades seasoned and tested politicians such as the Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, serving governors as Professor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
‘’Others include former governors as Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, Senator Yarima Bakura, Senator Alimodu Sheriff, Senator Adamu Aliero, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, Alhaji Isa Yuguda, Senator Abdulazeez Yari, Alhaji Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, serving and former members of the National Assembly as Senator Ali Ndume, Senator Kawu Sumaila, Senator Barau Jibrin, Senator Mohammed Mongunu, Senator Aliyu Lawal Silver plus many members of the House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly.
“At the APC national party level, leaders such Chief Emmanuel Eneukwu who is the Deputy National Chairman, South and Suleiman Muhammad Argungu, the National Organizing Secretary etc and my humble self, played very significant roles including funding the process that led to the formation of APC.”
“When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a public-spirited grassroots politician was elected, we thought he was going to change the trend within the shortest possible time, but, to our dismay, the situation is getting even worse under his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The bone of contention is that, out of the appointments so far given out, ranging from ministerial, managerial, executive directorship, among several other plum/juicy appointments under the Tinubu-led government, the ANPP bloc in APC has been conspicuously left out.’’
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