Ahead of the national convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the North-Central APC Forum has urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure the election of credible national officers for the party during the exercise.
The APC national convention is scheduled to hold between 27th and 28th March, 2026. National officers of the party, who will form the National Working Committee, NWC, are to be elected at the convention.
However, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, on Thursday, the North-Central APC Forum said it is imperative that the party begins consultations towards electing distinguished personalities with proven track records and experience to fill all the positions in the NWC, including the position of national chairman.
The Forum called on Tinubu to take charge of a “vetting process” that would ensure that only persons with the required capacity are elected at the convention to steer the affairs of the APC.
According to the Forum, “a proper APC national chairman should be somebody whose age accords him the status of a statesman, not an inexperienced fellow who has not acquired the experience to manage the affairs of a political party with so many prominent, distinguished personalities”.
The Forum stressed that the rapid growth of the APC, following the influx of several opposition governors who defected to the party with their structures, has made having a capable leadership to run the affairs of the party non-negotiable.
“The North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum is urging President Bola Tinubu to ensure the election of a credible national leadership for the party at the forthcoming national convention.
We believe this objective is very important because APC is a party with a lot of prominent politicians who have served and are still serving at the highest levels of governance. We believe electing the very best from such a highly distinguished pool of political leaders should be non-negotiable.
There should be no excuse for not getting it right at the national convention and that is why we urge Mr President to take charge of the vetting process that will ensure that the right persons emerge as the national officers of our party.
“A credible leadership of the APC should comprise of eminent personalities who have the required qualities in terms of age, past leadership experience, track record, national acceptability, wide and effective network, and resources.
We urge Mr President to ensure that credible people are elected to occupy all the positions in the National Working Committee, NWC. We don’t want people who will commercialize the party by only looking out for their personal interests,” the statement said.
The APC Forum further stressed that academic qualifications should not be a major criteria in selecting the party’s national chairman. Political sagacity and capacity are more important qualities, the North-Central APC Forum declared.
Insisting on competence, the Forum said those who failed to deliver their polling units, wards and local governments for the party in previous elections should not be considered.
Religious sentiment should also be jettisoned, the APC Forum added.
“Leading APC is not about speaking grammar, it is not about how long your academic qualifications are. It is simply about capacity to deliver and that is why we are calling on Mr. President to make sure that only those with proven track records, who are of the right age and experience, are elected as APC national officers.
Also, we advise that religious considerations should not come into play in the election of the national chairman of the APC at the national convention. Nigeria being a secular country, it is imperative that the national chairman of the APC should not be somebody that is known to habour religious sentiments, who sees himself as representing either Christians, Muslims, or traditional religious adherents.
Mr President should ensure that the national chairman is not someone that will put religion first. The national chairman should be somebody who is not sectional, who identifies with people of all faiths and ethnicities, who will put the interest of Nigeria above all,” the statement added.
