The North-Central All Progressives Congress (APC) Forum has declared that holding the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) cannot stop the region from producing the National Chairman of the party. The Forum declared in a statement issued by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, on Saturday in Abuja. The statement was in response to insinuations that the position of SGF should be taken away from the North-Central if the region is to produce the National Chairman of the APC.

The SGF, Senator George Akume, is from Benue State in the North-Central. Following the recent resignation of Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje as National Chairman, North-Central stakeholders demand that the position be returned to the region. Insisting that the North-Central should produce the National Chairman of the APC in line with the party’s subsisting zoning arrangement, the Forum kicked against the suggestion that the region cannot have both SGF and National Chairman.

“The North-Central deserves to produce the SGF and APC National Chairman due to the region’s contributions to the party. The North-Central gave President Bola Tinubu and the APC the third highest number of votes in the 2023 presidential poll – behind the South-West and North-West,” the statement noted.

Tinubu received 1,760,993 votes (41.3%) in the North-Central in 2023. Peter Obi of the Labour Party got 1,415,557 votes (33.2%) while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party received 1,025,178 votes (24.1%) in the region. “Among the various geopolitical zones, the North-Central has the highest number of APC governors.

APC controls five of the six North-Central states – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa and Niger.

This unmatched record demonstrates the strength and the wide acceptance of the party in the region. “Returning the position of National Chairman to the North-Central, by the zoning arrangement of the APC, is not a favour; rather, it is well deserved. The North-Central deserves to produce both the SGF and the APC National Chairman.

Holding the position of SGF cannot stop the North-Central from producing the National Chairman,” the statement said. The Forum, in the same vein, faulted calls that the position of APC National Chairman should be reserved for Christians from the North-Central. Warning those behind the calls to have a rethink, the APC Forum stressed that the North-Central is a secular region. “The politicians who are bringing up the issue of religion are doing so because of their selfish interests. We hereby warn them to have a rethink.

The North-Central has historically been a secular region and we will not allow self-serving individuals to use religion to divide our people,” the statement added. The Forum alleged that the particular politicians pushing the religious agenda did not support Tinubu and the APC during the 2023 presidential election. “We know that these are the same people who worked for Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in the last election.

They did not support President Bola Tinubu; rather, they delivered their polling units to the Labour Party,” the Forum said while urging Tinubu to ignore calls that