President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, charged the new leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to shun dictatorship which he said impacted the party’s fortunes negatively.
According to the president, “This dictatorial behaviour cost us many strategic seats in the past. In the recent past, this led to some of our strong members opting to go elsewhere because of the unfairly oppressive behaviour of party leaders at the state level.
Buhari, in a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC, urged the leadership to follow due process in the conduct of the party’s primaries.
Speaking on Nigeria’s security situation, the president hinted at tougher security measures in restive parts of the country. According to him, there will be a review of operations and strategy, just as he reassured that the efforts that resulted in relative peace in the south-south and rescuing of the northeast from the grips of terrorists will be ramped up.
Buhari, however, acknowledged that the major security challenges have remained in the north-central and northwest, saying, “We are going to be very tough.’’
“I 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 northeast?
“In 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.
“People are very forgetful. Our main problem now is in the northwest and north-central. People are killing one another in these places, what for? We are going to be very tough,’’
“I 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 the imposition of candidates that cannot win popular elections.
Read also: APC timetable indicates indirect primaries, says Atiku-Bagudu
“I must caution strongly against any tendency towards developing cliques, infighting within the party. We want to win well and not succumb to factions on account of personal acerbities and the desire to retain control at all costs. That surely is not the road to win,’’ he said.
Buhari said the APC was formed by a merger of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), some members from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP, which was a faction of the then ruling party.
“We put together a committee with clear terms of reference on how to remove the PDP from power. The PDP thought it wasn’t going to be possible. But it happened,’’ the President said.
President Buhari told new members of the NWC, which had been delegated powers of NEC for a period, to work towards keeping the party together by creating more room for discussions.
“There’s no time to develop differences among ourselves. We have no time for that,’’
The NEC meeting was attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, other principal officers of the National Assembly, APC governors, and state party chairmen.
