The immediate cause of Sunday night’s sudden resignation of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore has been revealed, First News can report.
It was gathered from impeccable party and Presidency sources that Adamu and Omisore’s failure to account for the N32billion raked in by the party from the sale of forms to contestants in the 2023 general elections was their major undoing.
There had been suspicion by some APC National Working Committee members that the money had drastically been depleted by both Adamu and Omisore to about N7billion.
The NWC members, it was learnt, were further irked by claims by both Adamu and Omisore to have unilaterally appointed auditors to audit the party’s account without giving them any information about such a crucial decision.
First News gathered that when President Bola Tinubu was informed about the controversy surrounding the N32billion party fund, he gave approval for Adamu’s sack from office “legally.”
A member of the APC NWC, who pleaded not to be identified, alleged, “Only N7billion is left in the account as we speak. Adamu and Omisore claimed the account has been audited, but we (NWC members) are not aware of when the auditors were appointed. How can NWC not be aware of the appointments? It is part of our responsibilities to appoint auditors.”
Adamu, who had preempted his sack, following this development, was said to have run to APC state chairmen to rescue him and save his job. But all his entreaties to the APC state chairmen were said to have been rebuffed. The state party chairmen, it was learnt, were not happy with him for not carrying them along from the beginning.
According to a chieftain of the party, “By the APC constitution, the proceeds were supposed to be shared with the zonal, state and ward levels of the party, and they were not in the know. So, there was no way they were going to support him.
Besides, Adamu and President Tinubu have been engaged in a cold war since his last year’s election as APC national chairman.
In the run-up to Adamu’s emergence as APC national chairman, Tinubu had backed another former governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura for the position. But the then President Muhammadu Buhari and his loyalists had thrown their weight behind Adamu, who eventually clinched the plum job.
Tinubu was said to have viewed this as the first move to prevent him from winning the APC presidential ticket and realising his presidential ambition.
Furthermore, in the run-up to the APC presidential primary scheduled for June 2022, Tinubu had raised the alarm in Abeokuta, Ogun State, of a surreptitious attempt by Buhari to betray him by not respecting a 2015 succession agreement between the two of them.
This led to Tinubu’s popular “Emi l’okan” outburst, which angered Adamu, who threatened some “disciplinary actions” against him.
Few days to the presidential primary, Adamu had announced to the NWC members that the then Senate President Ahmad Lawan was Buhari’s anointed candidate. Despite the protests and condemnation from different quarters, the APC chairman maintained his stand.
Lawan, however, lost the APC primary securing only 38 votes against Tinubu’s 371.
Tinubu eventually lost the 2023 presidential election in Adamu’s home state of Nasarawa.
Adamu’s role and opposition to Tinubu’s anointed candidates for the recent National Assembly leadership election was also said to have further pitched the APC chairman against the President. Adamu, it will be recalled had voiced his opposition to the emergency of Akpabio and Abbas as well as other principal officers of the National Assembly, saying the party would reverse the development.
This was said to have further irked those surrounding President Tinubu, who then vowed to deal a final blow to Adamu’s menace.
According to an NWC member, who preferred not to be identified, “It was inevitable that Adamu would bite the dust. When the 10th National Assembly was about to be inaugurated, it was the APC leadership that was supposed to work behind the scene for the leadership election. Adamu and Omisore were aloof. In fact, it was a known fact that Adamu was supporting Abdulaziz Yari.
“As if that was not enough, when the committee positions were announced, Adamu openly dissociated himself from the list. He had it coming.”
It was learnt that the situation got to a head on Sunday when the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, who also doubles as Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, advised Adamu to turn in his resignation letter.
But Uzodinma was however said to have been unable to reach Omisore to also deliver the message to him.
