The emergence of former Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdulahi Adamu, the impeached Deputy Governor of Osun, Iyiola Omisore, as National Chairman and Secretary has created mixed feelings within the ruling All Progressive Congress where the party is headed towards the 2023 general elections.
Many party stalwarts were jolted by the early hours of Sunday after the conclusion of the National Convention of the party where the “unity list” of the party emerged.
The fears of party stalwarts, especially those belonging to the camp of the progressives within the APC were further fueled by the emergence of the likes of Omisore and other former leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party.
While Adamu served as Governor of Nasarawa State under the umbrella of PDP, Omisore was a senator and once governorship candidate of the PDP in Osun.
Omisore was however originally a member of the defunct Alliance for Democracy. He was impeached as Deputy to former Governor Bisi Akande.
A look at the new NWC of the party show that former PDP chieftains who are now in charge of the APC include Barr Festus Fuanter (Plateau State), deputy national secretary; Muazu Bawa Rjau Niger State, national vice chairman (North-Central); Mustapha Salihu (Adamawa State), national vice chairman (North East); Barr Ahmed El-Marzuk (Katsina State), national legal adviser; Uguru Matthew Ofoka (Ebonyi State), national treasurer; Senator Abubakar Maikafi (Bauchi State), national auditor, Dr Betta Edu (Cross River), national women leader; Barr F.N. Nwosu (Abia State), national welfare secretary, and Nze Chidi Duru (Anambra State), deputy national organizing secretary.
A source within the party told our correspondent at the Eagle Square early Sunday morning that the outcome of the national convention may have sounded a death knell to the APC ahead of 2023.
Members were stunned when former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba mounted the stage midnight to appeal to former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu to concede the position of National Secretary to Omisore.
Shittu had insisted that he would contest the election against all forms of appeal. The former Minister was a member of the original Congress for Progressive Change, the party founded by President Muhammadu Buhari.