After days of vacillation of zoning of party offices, governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) finally agreed to zone the party’s national chairmanship position to the North Central ahead of the party’s national convention.
LEADERSHIP had reported that a meeting of the Progressive Governor’s Forum (PGF) convened on Tuesday to deliberate and arrive at a consensus after which they would communicate their decision on the knotty issue of consensus and zoning of party offices ended in deadlock.
As at Tuesday, the APC governors were said to be divided on whether to zone the national chairmanship position to either the North Central or North East.
But at their meeting which continued on Wednesday, the governors eventually settled for the North Central to produce the party’s national chairman.
A dependable source at the meeting of the governors which was also attended by some prominent party stakeholders told this paper that the progressive governors also zoned the party’s deputy national chairman and national secretary positions to the South.
The party leaders and governors from the South are expected to meet and take a stand on micro-zoning the deputy national chairman and national secretary positions, even as it was learnt that the South East and South South are favoured for these positions.
It was also gathered that the APC governors may have tipped one of the aspirants from the North Central, George Akume, a former governor of Benue state and current minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs as the consensus candidate for national chairman position.
Our source who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak on the outcome of the governors’ meeting said, “Yes, the governors have finally agreed on zoning. They resolved that the national chairman should go to the North Central, while the South should produce the deputy national chairman and the national secretary at the forthcoming national convention.
“It was even suggested that former governor of Benue state, George Akume, be picked as the consensus chairmanship candidate. For the deputy national chairman and national secretary, party leaders and governors from the South would have to meet and decide how to zone the positions among the zones.”
