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APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu In Brief

Written by Bunmi Abdulraheem

Following the removal of Adams Oshiomhole, the last national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the party’s national executive committee in 2020, the ruling party has not had a substantive National Working Committee since then.

A court judgment lifted the ban on convening the convention as scheduled, and on Saturday, March 26, more than 7000 delegates assembled in Abuja, the federal capital territory. Abdullahi Adamu, 75, a former governor of Nasarawa state, was elected national chairman through a voice-vote method.

This was after a series of meetings between President Muhammadu Buhari and founding members, governors, and aspirants, during which consensus candidates were agreed upon.

Adamu’s profile

Abdullahi Adamu was a founding member of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and served as governor of Nasarawa state for 2 terms from 1999 to 2007. He is currently a senator for Nasarawa-West in the National Assembly, a position for which he was elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party.

The PDP named Adamu as its Secretary of the Board of Trustees (BOT) when his governorship tenure was over.

He left the PDP in 2013 and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) less than a year after the party was founded. Adamu was a member of the New PDP, which merged to become the APC.

Political career

He started politics in 1977 and was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution for Nigeria’s brief Second Republic (1979–1983).

He was a founding member of the Nigerian National Party (NPN).

General Sani Abacha’s administration appointed him to the National Constitutional Conference in 1994, and he became Minister of State for Works and Housing in 1995, a position he held until November 1997.

When the ban on political activity was removed in 1997, he became a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP). Adamu became a founder member of the People’s Democratic Party in 1998. (PDP).

The EFCC’s case

A 149-count charge against Adamu was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2010, alleging that he embezzled $100 million in government funds intended for public projects. 

When asked about the issue in a February 2011 interview, he downplayed it, saying it was based on “mere allegations.”

After 6 years, the former governor stated that the matter was finally struck out in 2016.

Election 2023

Adamu will now ensure that the APC’s primaries go through without a hitch and that the party keeps power in the 2023 elections

RN