THE new chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Adamu has joined a group of former governors who have led the party since its inception in 2013.
The ICIR profiles former governors who have occupied the office of national chairman of the APC.
Bisi Akande (February 2013 – May 2014)
Akande was born in January, 1939 in Ila Oragun, Osun State. In 1999, he was elected governor of Osun State under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
He served as the pioneer interim National Chairman of the APC from 2013 to 2014, after spearheading merger talks between the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the APC.
Akande is the only person from the South-West to have held that position.
John Oyegun (June 2014 – June 2018)
Oyegun was elected civilian governor of Edo State on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the transition to democracy launched by the administration of former military head of state General Ibrahim Babangida, serving from January 1992 to November 1993.
He was removed from office after General Sani Abacha seized power. Later, he became a leader of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
On June 13, 2014, Oyegun was elected as the first substantive national chairman of the APC until his tenure elapsed in 2018.
Adams Oshiomhole (June 2018 – November 2019)
Oshiomhole was the second substantive chairman of the party. He emerged following a voice vote by delegates at the party’s national convention on June 23, 2018.
But Oshiomhole was suspended from the APC on November 12, 2019, after 18 local government chairmen of the party in his native state of Edo passed a vote of no confidence on him.
He was accused of attempting to disintegrate the party in Edo State. But a faction of the party loyal to him declared his suspension null and void and then suspended the state governor Godwin Obaseki, who they said orchestrated Oshiomhole’s suspension.
On January 15, 2020, Edo APC reaffirmed the suspension of Oshiomhole, saying he had no legal right to continue to function as the APC national chairman by the virtue of the suspension.
On March 4, 2020, a High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the suspension of Oshiomhole from the office of the National Chairman of the APC.
The court declared that Oshiomhole, having been suspended from the party, was no longer its member and could not possibly continue to discharge his official responsibilities as national chairman.
Mai Mala Buni (November 2019 – March 2021)
Buni’s situation is different as he led the APC as a serving governor, unlike others on the list.
The party’s National Executive Council (NEC) headed by President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the former Edo State governor Oshiomhole and replaced him with the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by Yobe State governor Mai Mala Buni.
In 2011, Buni joined the then ruling ANPP in Yobe State and was appointed Special Adviser on Political Affairs and Legislative Matters to Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Gaidam.
After the merger with other political parties to form the APC, Mai Mala Buni became the protem state secretary of the party in Yobe State and was subsequently elected the pioneer state chairman.
Buni, the current governor of Yobe State, was saddled with overseeing the caretaker committee until the party’s national convention was held.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.
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