Newly elected National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu has declared that it is time to do things differently to achieve success for the party in the 2023 polls and beyond.
Adamu, the anointed candidate of President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the APC Chairman at the party’s National Convention, Saturday, after six other aspirants withdrew from the race.
Speaking after the swearing-in event which held at Eagles Square, Adamu appreciated Buhari as well as all the stakeholders and members of the APC for giving him the mandate to oversee the affairs of the party for the next four years.
In his acceptance speech, Adamu assured the party of his total commitment, adding that he will work with the other members of the newly elected National Working Committee of the party to increase the popularity of the party.
Adamu also appealed to the aspirants that step down to take the decision of the party in good faith. He promised to heal wounds in the party and engender lasting reconciliation among members before going into the next general elections.
In his words, “On behalf of my colleagues the newly elected members of the National Working Committee of the party, All Progressive Congress, APC, I like to express our gratitude, the Almighty God, our very sincere thanks to our leader and father of this great nation, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, our progressive governors, the Chairman and members of the Caretaker Extraordinary convention Planning Committee, delegates of the convention, leaders at various levels as well as all members of our great party nationwide for electing us into these positions of very high responsibility.
“We accept the mandates that you have placed upon our shoulders and we will work hard to ensure that we can fulfil your expectations.
“I wish to also congratulate the great party men and women who also aspired to occupy these national offices of our great party. They did not succeed this time but in God’s time, many of them will yet realise their ambitions to serve our party and country in many other positions of responsibility. As politicians we are not strangers to gains, losses and disappointments with the outcome of every political contest. Let us show maturity and good sportsmanship and accept the outcome of this Convention with grace.
“Our party needs all hands on the steering wheel so that together we can steer the ship of state through the inclement weather of our divisive national politics to the promised land. I thank all of them very much for their spirit of sportsmanship and we will continue to count on their cooperation as loyal party members and patriots.
“I know that our opponents in PDP and other opposition parties are now sulking, wearing long faces of sadness, bewilderment and dismay.
“They had been hoping and praying to make a fortune out of our misfortunes. They were also hoping and praying to capitalize on assumed failures of our party to reap political benefits.
“Our party needs all hands on the steering wheel so that together we can steer the ship of state through the inclement weather of our divisive national politics to the promised land.
“For almost seven years now, APC Administrations at the federal, state and local levels have been battling night and day in order to enhance the livelihood of Nigerians through various policies, programmes and projects.
“We need to renew our faith in our party and its leadership at all levels in order to herald a new dawn. We need to commit to the resolution of our crisis within the confines of our party constitution.
“We must resist the temptation to blow every minor personal disagreement into a major party crisis. It is time for us to do things differently. When we quarrel, we open our flanks to our rival political parties that are only too eager to exploit them for their own benefit.
“My dear compatriots, the eyes of the nation are on us; the eyes of Africa are on us; the eyes of the world are on us. This is a historic moment. There is no room for false steps.
“Our first step is to make our party the bastion of internal democracy. If a party is not internally democratic, it cannot offer the country true democracy.”
