President Muhammadu Buhari has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) members to be more mindful of the pitfalls that led to the ouster of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.<\/p>\n
He spoke at a meeting of the\u00a0 National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, which held at Trancorp Hilton Hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PDP thought that only time could remove them, and the time actually came. They thought it was impossible to lose elections,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
President Buhari in a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the APC was formed by a merger of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), some members from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP, which was a faction of the then ruling party.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put together a committee with clear terms of reference on how to remove the PDP from power. The PDP thought it wasn\u2019t going to be possible. But it happened,\u2019\u2019 the President said.<\/p>\n
President Buhari told new members of the National Working Committee (NWC), which had been delegated powers of NEC for a period, to work towards keeping the party together by creating more room for discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no time to develop differences among ourselves. We have no time for that,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
President commended Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker\/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and all its members for offering themselves to serve the party at a critical moment in utmost satisfaction despite all the attendant challenges, and for organizing the National Convention that produced the NWC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must also sincerely thank all the aspirants for their desire to serve but had to withdraw their aspirations for the over-all interest of our Party. I consider it an honour to my person and an unwavering sacrifice for the unity of our great party as we approach the coming elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI plead with all aspirants who were not elected to put in efforts in support of the leaderships of the Party to achieve our goal of success in the forthcoming elections. Furthermore I am pleading with all litigants to withdraw cases against the Party and put faith in party mechanisms.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
President Buhari also advised party leaders against imposing unpopular candidates on the APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoin you all to follow due process in all the party processes and more importantly to develop more mechanisms against corruption. I call on all party members to abide by all extant laws, rules, and regulations and to leaders of our party to avoid imposition of candidates that cannot win popular elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis dictatorial behavior cost us many strategic seats in the past. In the recent past this led to some of our strong members unfortunately opting to go elsewhere because of unfairly oppressive behavior of party leaders at state level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must caution strongly against any tendency towards developing cliques, in\u2013fighting within the party. We want to win well not succumb to factions on account of personal acerbities and desire to retain control at all costs. That surely is not the road to win,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
President Buhari also congratulated the new National Chairman of APC, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, and the entire NWC members.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came in at a critical time and the entire party has a high expectation from you. The critical task ahead of you remains to continue to forge the unity of purpose among party members and to keep securing needful compromises in the interest of our great party,\u2019\u2019 the President noted.<\/p>\n
President Buhari felicitated with party leaders and members for successfully conducting the Ward, Local Government, State Congresses, and the National Convention, in compliance with the Party Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoin you all to recognize the place of due process in all our tasks as managers of the party. We must develop party in-built mechanisms against corruption. Our success in 2023 will depend more on our capacity to respect our own extant rules, and regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that NEC has vested its powers in NWC for the time being, as requested, and in compliance with the Party Constitution in the overall interest of the Party, I want to assure Mr. Chairman and the entire NWC members of my full support,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will like us to reflect on what the situation was before we came in. How many Local Government Areas were under the control of terrorists in the North-East?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the South-South, we all know what the situation was; now we have relative peace. With the resources at our disposal, we have done very well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are very forgetful. Our main problem now is in the North West and North Central. People are killing one another in these places, what for? We are going to be very tough,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) members to be more mindful of the pitfalls that led to the ouster of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n