…Decries abuses on President Tinubu
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has disclosed that the ruling party will apply scientific methods to win all the future elections in the country.
Ganduje spoke during a solidarity rally in support of him and President Bola Tinubu by concerned North Central APC stakeholders/elders forum at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
He warned against any distraction in the structure of the party ahead of the preparations for the two off-season governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, cautioning that it will not augur well for the party.
The former governor of Kano state equally decried the abuses on President Tinubu, assuming that he will take the country out of the woods.
He said: “We promised that there will be electronic registration of the membership of our party which we have already started. It is so vital because democracy is changing, democracy is getting advanced in Nigeria. To win election we need to consider so many variables, we need to have an accurate data with the necessary features that we can forecast, plan and calculate.
“Election nowadays is not a trial and error, it is scientific, unless you are scientific, you are bound to fail in an election period. Also, we decided that in order for our party to have identity, a strong philosophy, a very strong direction, we have gone far to establish the Progressive Institute for our party. “This will educate our members in the nitty gritty of democracy; enlighten our members; the institutions that in charge of election like the INEC, security agents, the political parties themselves and also to enlighten our monitors to see how far our manifesto is being implemented.
“We thank you for coming, we have work together, assist Mr President, Bola Tinubu in his efforts to maintain peace and security in Nigeria. We want to thank him for his efforts in order to rebuild our economy which was so bad but with his commitment, we believe our economy will be put in the right foot by the grace of God,” he said.
Speaking further, Ganduje said that; “members of our party from North-Central geopolitical zone, a very important geopolitical zone because, out of the six states, we have five for APC, even the sixth we were about to get it but we have to accept whatever we met (have).
“Your zone is a good example of unity in diversity because your geopolitical zone is a good example of diversity in politics – different religions, tribes, ethnic nationalities. Yet, you are able to come together under an umbrella we call APC.
“We have to thank you for that. A homogeneous geopolitical zone is not able to come together but a heterogeneous geopolitical zone (North-Central is able to do that. We thank you for that and we assure you, we will take APC to much higher level in Nigeria.
“The recent elections in the three states, we were able to maintain our states of Imo, Kogi, we narrowly lost Bayelsa state. In the recent bye- elections, we won more than 90 per cent. We have Senators, House of Representatives, State Assembly members.
“We have another election coming up in Edo state, Ondo state we have focused our minds on that. So any distraction in the structure of the party will not augur well for the party,” he warned.
Addressing the stakeholders during the rally, Ganduje frowned: “these assaults on Mr President, these assaults on Nigerians, we believe we will soon be out of these problems. We have to thank him for his renewed Hope Agenda; efforts, commitment and we assure him we are 100 per cent for him.
“I am so happy that you realise the importance of having a stable political party that is focused, ready to win election any time anywhere.
“There is no doubt that there is an opposition but we believe with your cooperation, we will not continue to listen to undesirable elements who are not focused, who are not real party men, who want to see us that we are in disarray.
“We have no place for that, we are people, politicians who are committed. We know we are forging ahead so we thank you for these your resolutions. We thank you for this your commitment,” he said.
The stakeholders in a speech presented by former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, passed an overwhelming vote of confidence in Ganduje to continue his position.
“When we put all these together, we came to the conclusion that you, ticks all the boxes for a performing excellent Chairman. Indeed, you are not just a performing chairman but one that had done the most in the shortest possible time to positively impact individual members of our great party while our party have also recorded impressive electoral strides bereft of rancour under your leadership.
“By these considerations, we hereby declare our unalloyed support for you to continue to manage the affairs of our great Party, the APC and to remain in the office for the good and development of members of the party, especially for the purpose of ensuring stability in the administration of our great party,” he said.