John Alechenu, Leke Baiyewu and Olaleye Aluko
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Sunday urged the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee to stamp out injustice from the All Progressives Congress.
Both leaders, who gave the advice at the APC national convention on Sunday, are some of the leaders of the disgruntled members of the nPDP bloc.
Saraki, in his remark, said the APC must stamp out injustice and bring all members together to work as a team.
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He noted that there were challenges on the ground which the leadership must “take head on.”
Saraki said, “As we look into the future, we must ask ourselves; how have we been successful so far? How were we able to win an election against all sorts of opposition? We did it because we were courageous. We did it because we made sacrifices. We worked as a team and we put in our all. And that is what it takes to get this achievement. Do we have challenges? Of course, we have. But the responsibility of leadership is to tackle challenges and take them head on. It is irresponsible of leadership not to take on challenges and find solutions.
“Mr Chairman, you have spoken so well because you admitted that there are challenges. But you said, which I must praise, that immediately you set to work, you will address those challenges. As full as this place is now, there are those who should be here who are not here. We need them.
“I say this with all sense of responsibility and purpose that the intention of all this is to make Nigeria better. Mr Chairman, I have a lot of confidence in you. I know you have the capacity to do it; the capacity to do it is for us to make sure that we stamp out injustice. We bring respect to all of us and work as a team.”
In his remarks, Dogara charged the new National Working Committee to ensure equity and justice in the APC.
The Speaker noted that there were no challenges that did not have solutions. He stressed that if the party searched deeper, it would get solutions to the challenges “confronting this movement.”
Dogara added, “One issue that I want to dwell on is the issue of justice, which we know that Mr. President stands on. He stands for the common man and his strength has been the common man. It is therefore very important that the leadership of the newly-elected executive creates equal opportunities for the weak and the strong. Challenges will come but we will always rise above them.
“I want to charge you also, to maintain the culture of democracy which is conflict, compromise, consensus and progress. Without conflict, there can’t be progress. So, the escalation of constructive conflicts is good for progress. And the management of these problems is what will lead to further progress for this great party and for our great nation.”
We must reward efforts, Oshiomhole tells APC leaders
Earlier, Oshiomhole had told party leaders that efforts put into the growth of the party must henceforth be rewarded to avoid grumblings among members.
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Oshiomhole said this in his inaugural address to party members after the APC national convention held in Abuja, on Sunday.
The new party chairman eulogised party leaders such as Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as well as the five governors who formed the new Peoples Democratic Party on the platform of which they joined other political parties to form the APC in 2014.
He said the foundation laid by Akande as the APC interim chairman paved the way for the convention which produced Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the national chairman who led the then opposition party to defeat an incumbent ruling party.
He said, “I want to also acknowledge the role played by our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of the universe, who our President often fondly refers to as his partner and dear friend. Mr President, that solid partnership made the difference and substantially steered us to victory that Nigerians gave to us in 2015.
Praising Odigie-Oyegun, Oshiomhole said, “He is the only national chairman of the party that concluded his tenure in honour and glory. It is important to note that the other party, for the about 17 years, had 14 national chairmen that gives an average of about 1.3 years per national chairman. So since 1999, no chairman of a ruling party has accomplished what my elder brother has accomplished.”
Chairman hails nPDP members, urges them not to dump APC
The former Edo State governor also enjoined party members who lost at the convention not to despair but to join other party members to contribute to the success of the APC.
He also acknowledged the contributions of members of the defunct nPDP to the formation of the APC and appealed to members who felt aggrieved to keep faith with the party because it was better for them to remain and help rebuild the APC.
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Oshiomhole said, “I want to thank all our governors who participated in the merger process, it will include of course, the former Speaker of the House Representatives now the Governor of Sokoto State, Waziri Tambuwual, of course Bukola Saraki, who is now the Senate President who then was with the nPDP to join others to form the APC.
“We want to appreciate that our nation today by that decision has made it possible for us to return to become the party to beat.
“I like to say to all our members that regardless of the legacy parties, we agreed to dissolve those parties to form the APC. I still stand now (to say) we have no any other party other than the APC.
“We must all remain in it and rebuild it, strengthen it so that it can provide comfort to all of its members regardless of how they joined. It is pure commitment to provide leadership for our great nation.
“I am aware there are challenges, this team that has just been elected; we have what it takes to tackle these challenges. When there is no relationship between effort and reward people are bound to grumble here and there.”
He reiterated the commitment of members of his team to work towards ensuring that every party member was given a sense of belonging.
“In a party like ours, whoever wins will serve all of us. In our oath of office and oath of allegiance we have all committed ourselves to do justice to all manner of persons and above all to work for the benefit of each and every party member,” he said.
Tinubu takes a swipe at Obasanjo
In his remarks, the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said the success of the convention was a testimony that the party was on track.
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He said, “The pigs and their fortune tellers said there would be explosions today; they predicted that the party would fall apart, that we will never see this important party again. You (Abubakar Badaru) navigated a very complex situation since you became chairman of this convention committee.”
While bashing the Peoples Democratic Party which he described as a failure in government, Tinubu said, “The party of the past which had spent 16 years of our precious lives to demolish our economy, frustrate us, we said then, enough is enough.
“We came together, they called us all sorts of names, they said it was impossible we bond together, we got an army general to lead us among other generals, some of them called me and said we don’t want the general and one member said he was tired of generals.”
Tinubu revealed that he insisted that until the problems of Boko Haram and killing were solved, it was necessary to have another general in the mould of President Buhari.
He said, “Sai Baba, and you lived up to expectations in the face of the challenges. Cast your minds back dear members when we came together, there were 12 cases in court to stop us from being registered, to stop us from bearing the name APC, we said we need this to cure Nigeria. We were registered, then we marched on led by this same general who is today a great democrat if anybody must blame you at all, you should be blamed for over democratisation. “
In a veiled reference to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo who he did not name, he said, “Those who want us to follow and they call them general, they better look at their houses, the one they built before, it has been deserted, it is a house of frustration.
“I remember one uncle who had been a general himself and who had been elected President; …then compare the two of you, the man had the temerity to write a letter to the post office, we said no, we are not using the post office like that anymore, we are now using email, your letter is not delivered, you ‘are analogue.’
“If he had the temerity to write the letter, thank God he is not a member of our party; we hold our future in our hands. Unfortunately, he has torn the card of his previous party.
“We have a general they asked me not to follow because he is a general if you call yourself a democrat don’t follow this man and I said I am not mad enough to listen to your lies. Thank you, Muhammadu Buhari, for the job you are doing today.”
Earlier, Oshiomhole was inaugurated by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and he went on to inaugurate other members of the executive.
APC govt has fought corruption – Osinbajo
The Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at the convention, said the Buhari administration under the APC had been unique with fighting corruption and looting of the country’s treasury.
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Osinbajo said, “Our party was given the unequivocal mandate of the Nigerian people to govern along the lines of the socio-democratic principles espoused in our manifesto. We have been resolute in that mandate. The difference between us and the other parties is our affirmed commitment to integrity and fighting grand corruption; the looting of the treasury with impunity and also the adoption of the bottom-up approach to the development of our country.”
We will serve Nigeria to the best of our abilities – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari, in his closing speech, urged the outgoing leadership led by Odigie-Oyegun to always lend its wisdom and experience to the new national executive of the party.
He said, “In our country, not only the labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain, the labour of the current generation shall also be rewarded. The APC will serve Nigeria to the best of our God-given abilities and rule our country to its rightful position among democratic nations.”
Kwankwaso explains absence from APC convention
Meanwhile, a former governor of Kano State and lawmaker representing the Kano Central Senatorial District, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, said his faction of the APC was absent from the national convention because the immediate past NWC did not recognise it.
Kwankwaso, who is a member of the aggrieved New Peoples Democratic Party bloc in the APC, had boycotted the event held in Abuja on Saturday and met with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, a leader of the opposition PDP.
The lawmaker, who spoke through his twitter handle on Sunday, explained that his group chose not to be at the Eagle Square venue of the convention as it might be blocked from gaining entrance.
Leadership change alone won’t end APC’s woes – Shehu Sani
On his part, the lawmaker representing the Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, stated that the emergence of a new leadership of the APC would not end the crises in the ruling party.
Speaking figuratively on his social media platforms on Sunday, Sani said, “A sellotape cannot conceal or cure a wound. Colouring the head of a vulture cannot turn it to an eagle.
“The fraud and injustices in the ruling party cannot be regarded or condoned as ‘a price we pay for success.’
Sani stated, “If as a government you cannot tolerate corruption as ‘a price we pay for success’ and you tolerated corruption in the party as ‘a price we pay for success,’ then you are simply glorifying those who used the party’s constitution as a lavatory tissue paper. Niccolo Di Bernardo dei Machiavelli’s book has simply replaced our constitution.”
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