The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has resigned from his position, the Daily Trust reports.
According to sources in the ruling party, Adamu a former governor of Nasarawa state tendered his resignation barely 16 months after he became the chair of Nigeria’s biggest party.
The former governor became the party’s chairman in March 2022.
Speaking on his resignation, sources in the party informed the magazine that the Presidency has become uncomfortable with the chairman since he voiced his opposition, recently, against the emergence of some principal officers of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Two weeks ago, the ruling party was faced with disquiet after Adamu openly kicked against the announcement of the Majority leaders, Deputy Majority Leaders, Chief Whips, amongst others of both the Senate and House of Representatives, saying he was not consulted before their names were made public.
He was later summoned to the Presidency where the magazine learned that he was rebuffed for openly opposing by close aides of the president.
“Since that open outburst, Adamu had become a prime target of some hawks in the presidency who told President Tinubu that the APC chair could no longer be trusted. He must go, the aides told president tinubu,” a reliable source in APC told the magazine on Monday.
Credible sources confirmed to this paper that Adamu, who emerged as the national chairman at the party’s national convention held in March 2022, has sent his resignation letter to the Presidential Villa, Abuja ahead of the return of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the African Union, AU, meeting in Kenya.
One of the sources said Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, sent the resignation letter to the Chief of Staff of the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, around 4pm on Sunday.
“He has resigned. The resignation letter signed by him has been sent to the villa. The letter was addressed to President Tinubu. But since the president is away in Kenya for the AU meeting, the letter was sent to his chief of staff,” the source said.
Also, a source close to Adamu corroborated this, adding that, “The national chairman resigned following a gang up by people around the president to embarrass him during the meetings of the party slated for tomorrow and Wednesday.”
The source, however, denied a report that it was President Tinubu that asked Adamu to resign ahead of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee, NEC, meetings of the party slated for tomorrow and Wednesday. The party had fixed July 10 and 11 for its National Caucus and NEC meetings to iron out critical issues affecting it and the crisis within the National Working Committee, NWC.
However, the meetings were later postponed and rescheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday.
A founding member of the party said Adamu resigned when he got wind that two influential personalities around the president had mobilised against him ahead of the meetings.
“He resigned because they have started to collate signatures to impeach him during the forthcoming meetings. He resigned to save himself from humiliation,” the top politician said.
When contacted, Adamu told this paper that he will not comment on the matter until President Tinubu returns from the AU’s meeting.
“I won’t talk about the issue because the president is away,” Adamu who was the preferred candidate of former President Muhammadu Buhari for the chairmanship seat, said.
It would be recalled that Adamu had, shortly before the presidential primaries of the APC, declared former Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the consensus candidate of the party.
The declaration by Adamu created uproar in the party as governors of the party from the North ganged up against him. They went to the villa and declared that the presidency be zoned to the South.
The position of the governors forced the party to open the race for its presidential ticket. Tinubu won the election. Recently, Adamu kicked against the list of the principal officers of the party announced by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
Following the development, Adamu was summoned to the villa by President Tinubu. At the meeting that had the National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, the issue was resolved.
Adamu, will recall is one of the close associates of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Since incumbent President Bola Tinubu came to power on May 29, the loyalists of the former president have been struggling to maintain their positions within the ranks of the ruling party.
