In a political landscape addicted to noise, spectacle, and the short half-life of performative outrage, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura stands out—precisely because he does not stand in the way. He does not demand the spotlight, yet his presence commands it. He does not bang the drum of ambition, yet his consistency echoes louder than most.
In a party fraying at the seams and stumbling through its second decade, his is the kind of leadership that speaks not in slogans, but in silence—the kind the All-Progressives Congress (APC) desperately needs now.
Al-Makura is not a man of momentary thunderclaps. He is a slow, steady rain—the kind that nourishes roots. From his time as the only CPC governor in 2011 to his pivotal role in the APC’s formation, and through his quietly transformative tenure as Nasarawa State governor, he has always preferred the backstage work of governance to the glamour of gladiatorial politics.
The APC’s founding myth was forged in the fiery optimism of 2013—a coalition of strange bedfellows united by the singular ambition to upend the PDP’s monopoly. The CPC, ACN, ANPP, and others, including a splinter from APGA, merged not out of ideological alignment, but strategic necessity. That ambition delivered victory—twice. But ambition without reconciliation has seeded resentment. Today, the ghosts of that unresolved architecture haunt the corridors of the ruling party.
No bloc feels this slight more acutely than the CPC—the ideological and electoral engine that delivered Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency. And yet, over a decade later, the CPC has not produced a national chairman. That Senator Al-Makura, perhaps the most enduring figure from its ranks, remains on the margins of party leadership, is not just inexplicable—it is indefensible.
But Al-Makura is not lobbying. He is not cajoling. He is simply there—steady, composed, waiting. Not with entitlement, but with earned equity.
To sit with Al-Makura is to experience a style of politics that is increasingly endangered. During a recent visit to his modest Lafia residence, there were no political courtiers hovering, no press handlers spinning proximity into influence. Just the man himself, under the shade of bougainvillea, speaking slowly, listening carefully. It is this same deliberative temperament that defined his two-term governorship. Nasarawa, a state often described as a microcosm of Nigeria’s ethnic and religious complexities, thrived under his calming stewardship. His tenure brought roads, schools, hospitals—and more crucially, peace.
That instinct for inclusion and balance is not mere strategy. It is Al-Makura’s nature. He governed on the edge of volatility, and yet never once let it tip into crisis. That is not luck—it is leadership.
In the Senate, he maintained the same unassuming posture. Where others sought soundbites, he offered substance. Where others inflated, he distilled. Colleagues respected him not for decibel levels, but for depth. He brought to legislation the pragmatism of an executive and the patience of a statesman.
Now, with the APC reeling from internal tensions, failed consensus experiments, and a growing disconnect between its lofty founding ideals and its current disjointed reality, the party doesn’t need another alpha. It needs an anchor. A reconciler. A bridge.
It needs Al-Makura.
This is not just about power rotation or political arithmetic—though, even by those metrics, Al-Makura fits perfectly. With the presidency in the South-West and the Senate in the South-South, the North Central—a region too often used and under-rewarded—deserves its turn. Nasarawa sits at the nation’s geographic and symbolic centre. So does Al-Makura—tempered by geography, defined by balance.
He is not only a CPC custodian, though that identity matters now more than ever. He is respected across the APC spectrum. ACN veterans trust his restraint. ANPP remnants respect his humility. Even factions from the New PDP and APGA see in him a leader unburdened by factional grudges. He has no personal empire to protect. No legacy to launder. Just the quiet credibility to unify.
His response to the 2022 consensus decision—where he graciously stepped aside for Abdullahi Adamu—remains one of the most telling political acts in recent APC history. He could have protested. Many urged him to. Instead, he deferred. Not out of weakness, but wisdom. He saw the larger picture, and chose unity over personal gain. That choice, while understated, was revolutionary in its restraint.
In today’s Nigeria, where political fidelity is cheap and ambition often trumps principle, Al-Makura’s loyalty is priceless. Even in the post-2023 murmurings of CPC restiveness, he has been the voice of calm. He has kept his bloc within the party, reminding them that political projects outlast personal slights.
He has also kept his hands clean—an almost quaint rarity in Nigerian public life. No media firestorms. Just a long, unbroken arc of service and self-discipline.
Yet he is not without ambition. It is simply sublimated, mature. His ambition is not to dominate, but to stabilise.
The APC is not just in flux—it is in fracture. The Ganduje resignation and the resulting power scramble have left a leadership void deeper than any zoning chart can explain. The party’s ideological elasticity has stretched to the point of incoherence. It does not merely need a new chairman. It needs a moral compass.
Al-Makura is that compass. He is not the loudest note in the APC’s discordant symphony—but he may be its most essential. He is not the next man up. He is the right man, now.
Voices as diverse as Primate Ayodele and Daniel Onjeh have declared him the stabiliser the party needs. Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule calls him the most qualified to lead. Civil society voices praise his maturity and inclusiveness. CPC loyalists see in him not just a representative, but a redeemer.
If the APC wants to survive this moment—not just tactically, but spiritually—it must embrace what it once promised: progress built on unity, not uniformity. Al-Makura represents that promise. His chairmanship would not merely balance equations—it would restore equilibrium.
In an age where parties are hijacked by noise merchants and where loyalty is often leveraged for political rent, Al-Makura offers something deeper: trust capital. And that, more than strategy or showmanship, is what will define the APC’s next chapter.
The time for spectacle is over. The party needs substance. The time for politics as performance is past. The party needs patience. The time for gladiators has ended. The party needs gardeners.
And Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is already planting the seeds.
Measured. Mature. Mission-ready.
He is not a placeholder. He is a pathfinder.
And the time is now.
Adejobi is an analyst, who writes from Abuja
