‘He’s too old’ – APC Muslim Forum rejects endorsement of Adamu as national chairman

A pro-demiocracy group, APC Muslim Integrity Forum, has kicked against the endorsement of former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, as the next national chairman of the ruling party.

Reports emerged recently that President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed Adamu ahead of the APC national convention which has generated mixed reactions in many quarters.

Reacting to the development at a press conference Tuesday in Abuja, the forum’s national coordinator Hon. Abubakar Yusuf, urged President Buhari and other party leaders to critically examine the person of Senator Abdullahi Adamu and his past activities, his integrity and commitment, age and physical fitness and his role as the arrow head of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third agenda.

Full text of his speech reads below;

We welcome you to the state of the All Progressives Congress, APC press conference, though at short notice.

It has become very important for us as members of the APC to draw the attention of our Party faithfuls, the National Leader President Muhammadu Buhari to the leadership tussle within the party.

It is no longer news that after the removal of the Adams Oshiomhole’s led National Working Committee on the 25th June, 2020, a Caretaker/Convention Extra-ordinary Planning Committee was constituted to oversee the affairs of the Party.

Gentlemen of the press, soon after the inauguration of the Caretaker Committee, we witnessed a tremendous success in the partys administration where physical day to day running of the party became sacrosanct.

The Party under the Caretaker Committee has truly manifested the ideology of its founding fathers. The membership revalidation, fully purchased of the National Secretariat, entrance of new members including three serving Governors of the Federal Republic of Nigeria among others are credit to the progressive leadership of our Party.

As a party, we are not immune to crisis, we have the best mechanism to resolve all disputes as far as party administration is concerned and we will continue to handle our internal crisis and use the best amicable ways of resolving them.

In recent months ,the news of the National Convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC is trending, especially with the constitution of the Convention sub-committees.

In the interest of our Party and its future, we wish to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari towards the records of H.E Sen. Abdullah Adamu, the alleged proposed consensus Chairmanship candidate of our party right from when he was convicted of financial fraud as the Boss of Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA to the Presidential pardon granted him by the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime . Sen.Adamu is currently been prosecuted by the Economic and financial crimes commission, EFCC over financial fraud committed during his tenure as the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State between 1999 and 2007.Though, he was granted a presidential pardon which enabled him to contest the Governorship election of Nasarawa State in 1999 does not exonerate him as an ex-convict whose integrity is not good enough for a Party whose hallmark is anti-corruption.

The fact is, Abdullahi Adamu is not the only Muslim from North Central Nigeria, we have people like Sen. Umar Tanko Al-Makura, Sen. Sani Musa, Saliu Mustapha among others are can do the job. The age of Sen. Adamu should also be considered as apart from his fraudulent records, Adamu lacks the physical energy and charisma to move round the Country and seat for long hours as it is required of a National Chairman of a governing Party in a Country like Nigeria.

We appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to critically examine the person of Abdullahi Adamu and his past activities, his integrity and commitment, age and physical fitness and his role as the arrow head of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third agenda. A man who does not believe in democratic principles can not be a good party administrator, especially in a crisis-ridden Party like ours in an election year.

We call on President Muhammadu Buhari and all leaders of our party to withdraw the purported endorsement of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, considering his badly damaged records, his age and the requirements of the office of the National Chairman with the view of replacing him if at all such alleged endorsement exists.