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From Romanus Ugwu and Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, left Abuja for London for routine medical check-up saying Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be in charge while he is away.
Spokesperson for the president, Mr Femi Adesina, in a statement on March 1 had said the medical trip to London would last for a maximum of two weeks.
The president was originally scheduled to proceed to London after attending the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) at 50 in Nairobi, Kenya last week, but returned to Abuja last Friday, and rescheduled the trip for yesterday.
When asked by journalists who would govern the country in his absence before departing the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for London, the president said: “Well, I cannot claim to be doing the work alone. The government is fully represented – the Vice-President is there, constitutionally when I’m away he’s in charge, and the Secretary to the Government and then the Chief of Staff. So, i have no problem.”
Asked to address those expressing doubts regarding the ability of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to conduct its national convention successfully, he said the party would surprise its critics.
“Well, they should wait and see. How did we come as a party to take power from the ruling party who had been there before us for so many years? So we have the capacity, everything will be alright. Well, they (critics) should wait and see. How did we come as a party to take power from the ruling party who had been there before us for so many years? So, we have the capacity, everything will be all right.”
Meanwhile, Chairmanship aspirant for the APC, Senator Sani Musa, has intensified his consultations and strategies to get party faithful to back his aspiration ahead of the March 26 national convention.
“If given the opportunity to lead the party I will completely re-engineer the internal structures and workings of the party. APC needs total leadership reorientation for it to actualise its institutional potentials,” he said, while interacting with party stakeholders at the weekend.
Musa, who is Senate Committee Chairman on Services, pledged to be adaptive to participatory and affiliative work style that would usher visionary and pacesetting leadership for the party and give it a new direction and philosophy.
“APC must be made an institution which is the only antidote to reckless abuse of office and ethics which brings about disharmony and wrangling within the various organs of the party viz-a-viz its followers. My reform agenda for the party is expressed in what I call the three Rs for success, that is, reconciliation, reorganisation and redirection. We need to immediately reconcile aggrieved members of the party at all levels on a sustainable basis,” he said.
He said there was need to reorganise the party in such a manner that it is able to effectively mobilise all segments of the country from youths to women groups to meet up with the INEC timetable timelines for 2023 elections.
“We must redirect our efforts towards winning elections and nation building and not wrangling. Most importantly, we shall govern by the rule of law, abide by the party constitution, guidelines, manifesto and in line with the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.
“We will run an inclusive leadership that is devoid of the habitual grain of the entrenched political culture of dynastic politics, sectionalism, favouritism, money politics, parasitism on the public pay roll, cronyism and patronage.
“We shall thrive to be self funding and not rely on individuals that will later want to be dictating the tunes and which will create wrangling and disharmony in the party. Under my leadership the party will embrace more technology in our operations which will reduce waste and abuse of our party best practices.
“We will run a party that will preserve the legacy of our founding fathers to build a strong country that is more tolerant, more prosperous and fairer by giving every member of the party equal opportunity. Disputes are indispensable in democracy because democracy allows for different shades of opinions.
“This in itself is not a disadvantage because it allows people to learn from such disputes and even matters that end up in courts afford the judiciary the opportunity to expound and develop the law regarding issues in dispute which serve as precedents for the future,” he said.
