APC ex-deputy govs protest exclusion from NEC meeting

The Forum of Former Deputy Governors of Nigeria has urged Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, to change the party’s charter to let former deputy governors to attend APC National Executive Committee meetings.

When they paid a visit to Ganduje at the APC national headquarters in Abuja on Monday, a delegation of the group’s 60 members made the appeal.

The forum’s chairman, Chris Akomas, lamented their absence from the list of dignitaries who attended the NEC meeting at the Transcorp Hilton two weeks ago and asserted that the former deputy governors have a sizable following in Nigerian politics.

The former deputy governor of Imo State remarked in a statement to journalists, “Our own interests should be protected. If you have donated to a political party but are not included when important decisions are made by the group…We’ll say it again: We consider the exclusion to be an omission. You got the Speakers and Deputy Speakers, but you missed the people that carried the state’s structures and served and represented the entire state! It is not helpful for the political party, the Forum of Former Deputy Governors of Nigeria, or efficient government. This is due to the fact that encouraging idea-cross-fertilization is essential to effective governance. As we previously stated, there are skill, experience, knowledge, and professionalism within the forum of deputy governors. Everybody must follow that rule.

In response to their worry, Ganduje pledged to look into the situation and expressed that he understood it because he had worked in Kano as a deputy governor for Rabiu Kwankwaso, his former boss who is now a political rival.

“In government, the role of deputy governor is contentious. God lacks a constable as a result. As a political party, the APC is curious about what goes on in the executive branch. It is a two-way process. In the same way that we receive complaints from the public and forward them to the government, we receive information from the government and distribute it to the populace.

Everyone serves as a servant. It is off limits. Deputy governors are viewed as a backup plan. And everyone is aware of the value of having a spare tyre. If you don’t need it when things are going well, you definitely will when things get tough.

“The issue of sycophancy will present another challenge for deputy governors. Sycophants will say you are crap and all that while you are strolling with a governor and walking side by side to hear him when he says. Sycophants will accuse you of adopting a lukewarm approach if you show respect for your principal by following them. Tell me now, which role will you play. It is challenging,” he added.