A former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje has been elected as the new national chairman of the All Progressives Congress.
Mr Ganduje, who was a two-term governor, was elected at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party held in Abuja on Thursday, replacing senator Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa state who recently resigned his position.
Before his official emergence, Mr Ganduje was tipped to be one of the ministerial nominees of President Ahmed Tinubu. He was also supposed to be contest for the senatorial election but dropped his ambition for another candidate.
Similarly, a former spokesman of the 9th Senate, Ajibola Basiru has also been elected as the national secretary of the party. He is replacing Senator Iyiola Omisore also from Osun state, who recently resigned from his position.
Who is Abdullahi Ganduje?
The new APC Chairman, Abdulahi Umar Ganduje is not a stranger to politics having been involved in the domain since the second republic when he was elected as assistant secretary of the then ruling party in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of Kano State from 1979 To 1980 after he had lost elections to the House of Representatives in the general elections in the 1979 transition.
For the next decade largely under military rule, he was deeply involved in the development of the Federal Capital Territory from 1984 to 1994, engaged with the FCTA before he became the Kano Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport in 1994.
As the fourth republic was ushered in by 1998, he joined the Peoples Democratic Party and contested and lost the gubernatorial primaries but later emerged as the deputy candidate to Rabiu Kwankwaso who served with him from 1999 to 2003, and again from 2011 to 2015 between which he served as a special adviser to his principal at the Federal Ministry of Defense from 2003 to 2007, and later as executive secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Ndjamena.
It was at the formation of the All Progressives Congress, when he defected alongside his then principal – Rabiu Kwankwaso to the new party away from the then ruling Party in 2014 that he began to build his own political platform. After emerging as the new party’s candidate and later the Governor in 2015, and winning another term in 2019 he was regarded as a serious player in Kano politics.
During his tenure in Kano, he was known for very controversial policies and statements, including his historic dethroning of the then populist Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as well the partitioning of the emirate of Kano into five constituent emirates that have since succeeded the ancient throne. He was further known for giant strides in infrastructure development in the state, as well as being political savvy even when he faced critical challenges.
His emergence as the new chairman of the ruling party under President Tinubu can be traced to his early and bold support for the President before the primaries and after, and his ability to deliver a decisive margin in Kano state for the ruling party against its closed competitor in the PDP despite losing to the upstart party formed by his former principal with whom he had already fell out.
Meet APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru
Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru was a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for Osun State. He also served as Commissioner in the Ministry of Regional Integration & Special Duties from August 2010 – November 2014. He was once a Lecturer in Osun State University November, 2014 – May 2017. He formerly served as senator of the Osun Central Senatorial District from 2019 – 2023.
Law career
Basiru was admitted into the University of Ilorin to study Arabic and Islamic Studies but was rusticated in his third year. He received an admission to study Law at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos for L.L.B. (Hons) Bachelor Of Laws from 1994-2000.
He attended The Nigeria Law School, Bwari, Abuja, FCT. (2001-2002) and had a Second Class, Upper Division. From 2005-2006 he attended University of Lagos, LLM (Master Of Laws) Degree in Secured Credit Transactions; Planning & Compulsory Acquisition; Law of the Sea and Comparative Company Law. In 2016, Basiru also had his Ph.D in Property Law, Faculty of Law, at the University of Lagos.
Political career
Mr Basiru was a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), and has been in the party through its metamorphosis to Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was a commissioner[1] during the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and also served in the first term as Honorable Commissioner of Regional Integration and Special Duties. Later, in the second term, he was appointed as the Honorable Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for the state.[1][5]
Basiru represented Osun Central Senatorial District under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and was appointed the Chairman Senate Committee on Diaspora, Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Societies. He was later meritoriously appointed as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs (Senate Spokesperson).
