Breaking: Buhari responds to APC crisis, reveals date of party’s convention

The President, Muhammadu Buhari has finally issued a statement on the recent crisis rocking his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The President’s full statement, signed by his media chief, Garba Shehu, is below;

“President Muhammadu Buhari warns the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders (and membership) to avoid name-calling and backstabbing ahead of the upcoming March 26 Convention, to remain steadfast, and to maintain the party’s unity if the party is to continue on its path to victory and dominance at all levels throughout the country.”

President Buhari asks members to learn lessons in disunity, mismanagement, and corruption from the once-powerful “main opposition” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is now weakened and adrift.

“They were a failure in power for 16 years and a failure in opposition.

“Yes, we have a right to our own dissent and intra-party strife.” These are found in all political parties, both left and right, around the world.

“However, parties splintered by competing egos are doomed to suffer the worst possible outcome,” the President warned.

“As the country prepares for the long road to the presidential election in 2023, we all expect a robust debate on the issues that matter, and what is going on in the APC should reflect that, not the infighting we are seeing.” There must be no more distractions in the run-up to the election of new leaders.”

He recalled that the APC began with a belief in victory, and that belief still exists in nearly two-thirds of our 36 states today.

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Despite the fact that this is a party that has only been around for eight years, he pointed out that it has become the dominant party by welcoming defectors from all parties, large and small.

This, combined with the fact that “we didn’t start on the note of arrogance of power, nor see government as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement, to be held at all costs, but as a vehicle to bring development to all without discrimination-political, ethnic, or regional to our dear country made this success possible,” “made this success possible.”

He went on to say that the party is proud of having won two general elections decisively in its short existence, and that despite losing a few states in 2019, it has steadfastly expanded its pan-Nigerian outlook with significant defections of opposition governors and parliamentarians into its fold.

“Given all that is at stake, we can expect heated contests for offices such as the ones we are now facing, even if candidates and their promoters for party offices are debating differences of management, personality, character, and suitability for the most important leadership roles in our country and thus the continent.”

It is equally clear that over the last week or so, the internal management affairs of the APC have been afforded generous media coverage – over and above its importance to the voters of Nigeria.

It’s critical to inquire about the benefits received by the poor during this period of intense negative coverage.

Who the party’s flagbearer will be in the coming weeks, to take the party’s platform to the people in the general election in February next year, is far more important than when the party’s convention is held and who the party’s chairman is.

As a result, it is critical for the media to put such issues in context. No one is debating policy differences here. This is in preparation for the general election. None of the declared aspirants or those who may step forward will be affected by who occupies the chairmanship of the party. It’s essentially the same group of people.

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Of course the media are welcome to comment on the content of the character of the potential APC candidates; discuss their suitability for leadership; scrutinize their offer to the membership. However, focusing on routine internal divisions and magnifying them into what they have become today is a waste of everyone’s time, akin to debating seating arrangements.

Nigerians do not discuss this in their communities. They are only interested in things that are important to them.