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Respite seems to be coming the way of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC as Adams Oshomole, an aspirant to the position of the national chairman promised to ensure a total overhaul of the party if elected.
Oshomole said if given the opportunity as national chairman, he would rebuild a credible membership register and ensure continuous registration of members to make APC a membership driven party and integrate them accordingly into relevant structures.
The former Edo State Governor who was recently endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Governors for the position of National Chairman stated this Thursday during his formal declaration in Abuja where he reeled out the strategies of how APC under him could be rejuvenated.
“As I present myself for the position of the National Chairman of our great party, it is pertinent to reflect on what constitutes the APC. The APC is a progressive party which represents the collective will of all the members of the party in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“It is my hope that if and when elected as National Chairman of the party, we will reposition and re-organise the party based on its philosophy of social democracy which basically means people-oriented, membership driven and mass based political organization.
“To be able to translate these into concrete action that is visible and verifiable. Under our leadership, we will naturally have to do a couple of things differently, in the day to day management of the party, while interfacing with all those elected on the platform of the party at all levels, the APC National Chairman Aspirant declared.
He promised to promote internal democracy within the party, ensure APC operate on the basis of its rules which is the party Constitution and other laws of the Federation as they relate to the formation and administration of political parties, hence the Constitution of the party is the basis of the contract between the party members.
According to Oshomole, as a governing party founded on the values of social democracy, APC must be seen to play politics of inclusion which encourages debates, contestation and consensus on policy choices.
Oshomole stressed that his leadership will give effect to article 25 of the APC’s Constitution which provides that ‘National Convention of the party shall be held once in two years; National Executive Committee (NEC) every quarter and National Working Committee (NWC) once every month’ while annual platforms would be organised to review not only the activities of the party but even of governments elected on the platform of the party at all levels.
“Similarly, other organs of the party including those at the zonal and state levels will be encouraged to meet as stipulated by the Constitution.
In this way, there will be a bottom-up approach to internal democracy within the party from unit to ward to local government to state to zonal and national levels, Oshomole noted.
He also assured that a new party supremacy which flows from the implementation of decisions democratically debated and consensus reached at the appropriate and relevant organs of the party would be evolved as the opinion of the party chairman or any leader of the party will not constitute the party position.
Oshomole who also declared that he could not do anybody’s bidding as national Chairman, said the party under his leadership will have the courage to continually remind the two arms that they are separate but not autonomous arms of government because if they are entirely independent they will not complement each other.
He noted that APC would be reinvigorated as fast as possible to rekindle the faith of Nigerians to secure landslide victory in the 2019 general elections and appealed for the support of party stakeholders desirous of positive change.
Giving a goodwill message, Chairman of APC Governors Forum and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha declared that the aspiration of Oshomole was the project of the Progressives governors who are desirous of having a virile National Chairman that could add to political sagacity of Buhari for the party’s victory in 2019.
Okorocha observed that PDP was making unnecessary noise ahead of the forthcoming general elections and Oshomole is the potent instrument that can silence the the party which grounded Nigeria in totality till APC rescued the country.
In their separate remarks, Senate Chief Whip, Shola Adeyeye and Senator representing Katsina South, Abu Ibrahim promised to mobilise their colleagues to ensure Oshomole emerge APC National Chairman as he possessed the qualities of a leader that is needed to return APC to its lost glory preparatory to the general polls.
James Kwen, Abuja
