At least four governors of the party, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun State), Chief Rochas Okorocha (Imo State), Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara State) and Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo State), and scores of senior members have been up in arms against the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, calling for his removal over the primaries.
READ ALSO : ‘APC Is Not Doing Well But When It Comes To Governance Give It To Buhari’ – Wike
The presidential appeal came three weeks after he asked those who failed in their bid to secure the party’s ticket to emulate the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who lost his re-election bid but did not leave the ruling party.
Buhari pleaded with the aggrieved during a dinner with them at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday night, telling them he did his best to ensure that the primaries process was free and fair.
Those in attendance included gubernatorial, national and state assembly aspirants who failed to secure the party’s tickets in the forthcoming general election.
Buhari urged them to be patient, remain with the party and work for its success during the 2019 elections.
While briefing State House correspondents after the dinner, Alhaji Aliyu Wadada, a gubernatorial aspirant from Nasarawa State, said the president assured the aspirants that justice would be done as their cases would be looked into.
“Beyond just eating at the dinner as a family, we had discussions over the various experiences that aspirants had during the APC primaries and the president pleaded and pacified the aggrieved aspirants to remain resolute and continue to be loyal and committed to Nigeria’s unity which is the most important thing beyond party politics,” he said.
He added, “The president told us his experiences from the military to civilian eras, adding that naturally it is never easy when your mandate is forcefully taken but whatever it is, we should remain as a family and the needful shall be done where necessary to ensure that those that genuinely won their primary elections are given their stolen mandate but cases that cannot be really proven will have to bear with the outcome; after all, you don’t just divorce yourself from your family because you don’t get what you want.”
A senatorial aspirant from Kebbi State, Sule Sami, said those at the meeting resolved to work hard for Buhari’s re-election in 2019.
“One important thing coming out of the meeting with our president is our resolve to ensure that the president wins next year; we will stay back and fight to ensure that he is returned next year because we are not going to be campaigning for any person other than our president,” he said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, also said the meeting went well, adding that the aspirants pledged to work for the success of the party.
Enang said the meeting was one of the greatest steps taken by Buhari and the APC to bring every aggrieved person together, thus paving way for the party’s success at the polls next year.
The president had told his guests that he regularly met and called the Oshiomhole during the primaries to ensure that internal democracy was respected.
Buhari, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, told the aspirants that the primary motivation for election contest should be the desire to improve situations in the country, and not for pecuniary reasons.
It also said the president urged the aspirants who lost out in the primaries to remain faithful to the country and uphold the tenets of integrity, pleading that there would yet be more opportunities for them to serve along the way.
Adesina also said Buhari, who told the aspirants that “those who mismanaged the resources of the country are still very much around, with incredible wealth,” warned them to be vigilant and circumspect in making choices, adding that the future would only be salvaged by those who love the country.
“I spoke with the APC party chairman almost every other day, at least for an hour during the primaries. And sometimes, we met for two and half hours on ensuring internal democracy during the primaries,’’ the president was quoted.
Tinubu Backs Oshiomhole
Meanwhile, the National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, yesterday in Abuja threw his weight behind Oshiomhole, expressing opposition to the moves to remove him from office.
Saying every member had the responsibility to respect the supremacy of the party, Tinubu, who highlighted various stages the party went through before the primaries as well as the agreements reached, said those who lost out in the primaries should accept their fate instead of resorting to undermining the party supremacy.
He said, “We all have to respect the party supremacy. You were all here when we had the congress. We elected the new executives. The convention, we had it. The NEC was formed and we surrendered to avoid conflict, to avoid domination, to avoid abuses of power.
“We surrendered our rights, all rights to the National Working Committee headed by Adams Oshiomhole that the National Working Committee should set up electoral bodies to supervise various state congresses and elections.
“We signed off for it. So, if it is not in our individual favour, so be it. We gave three options – consensus, where there is no consensus because if you are more than two or three and you cannot agree to one candidate, you go to the next level.
“The next level is the stakeholders’ delegate and you have to be supervised by the National Working Committee of the party, national election committee of the party. That shows party supremacy or the freest option. The less cumbersome is to open direct primary, line up and count the number, 1,2,3.
“If you win, you win and if you fail, go home. Then, appeal committee was set up to listen to all appeals – internal mechanism for conflict resolution. It was there. You cannot turn round against that. You cannot turn against all of that. No.
“Party is supreme. Party must be respected. Abuses will not do it and anger will not do it. It is party politics. Somebody will win and somebody will lose, too bad.”
READ ALSO : Ogun PDP picks Abati as deputy governorship candidate
He dismissed the current stay of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in Dubai for the perfection of his campaign strategy, saying Nigeria won’t return to “the pit” the PDP led the country into for 16 years.
Tinubu who made these scathing remarks while answering questions from journalists after a meeting with Buhari in the State House, described PDP’s 16-year reign in the country as an illusion which he said Nigerians would never return to.
“We don’t fear, whether he’s in the jungle, or he’s in Dubai or in Abu Dhabi, people are free to meet and strategise in anyway they feel but we are not going back to the illusion of the PDP.
“It is not possible. Nigerians will not do that. They say slow and steady win the race. We inherited that from our forefathers and knowledgeable people.
We can’t go back to the pit that we inherited for 16 years. They can strategise from anywhere but a leopard cannot change its skin,” he said.
Are you an artiste? Do you want your music to go viral and reacha large number of audience? Promote your music and Submit your story on Ujuayalogusblog.com by clicking here. For Advert Inquiries Tel/+44(0)7590363984 Subscribe to Ujuayalogusblog.com
For More: Visit Us at Uju Ayalogu's Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment