Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, claims that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has continued to be the only political organization centered on social democracy, social protection, and social mobility, particularly for the underprivileged.
According to a statement released in Abuja by Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, the vice president officially launched the APC Legal Compliance Committee on Monday at the State House Banquet Hall.
In the elections held in February and March, the committee is in charge of more than 1,400 federal and state elective positions.
The event was attended by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Minister of State for Labor and Productivity, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and the Coordinator of the Committee for the APC, Mr. Ahmad El-Marzuq.
According to Osinbajo, the committee was essential to the party’s success in achieving its electoral goals in the federal and state elections of 2023.
The vice president exhorted the group’s members to take initiative and continue to be dedicated to this important task.
“Our party is the only one that is founded on social democracy, social protection, or social mobility for the underprivileged, and justice for those who have been wronged.
“I am therefore pleased that we have gathered here an assembly of very dedicated party members who, by virtue of their profession as lawyers, will be able to provide significant value for the party by defending its interests throughout this electoral process.
“Those of you that have worked with us in the build-up to the 2015 and the 2019 general elections know that the proactive approach we adopted, especially through the ear-on-the-ground work of the Presidential Legal Team, has provided us crucial head-start in tackling some of the challenges that we were confronted with,” he said.
Osinbajo said that the party’s manifesto in 2014, 2015 and 2023 contained the most detailed social investment policy.
He said that in 2015 APC became the first government to make budgetary provision of N500 billion for a comprehensive Social Investment Programme.
“Feeding 9.5 million children in our Home-grown School Feeding Programme, providing jobs for 500,000 unemployed graduates through our N-Power programme.
“Many deployed to primary schools in the hinterland as teachers, others trained under the N-TECH, N-BUILD.
“Our Government Enterprise and Empowerment (GEEP) programme provided two million informal traders with small loans via its TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni schemes.
“We also built up the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.
“Along with the World Bank and local communities we complied a register of the poorest Nigerians and began a programme of giving them a total of about N20,000 monthly per household and introduced livelihood support,” Osinbajo said.
The vice said despite criticism from APC’s rivals for giving poor people money to start their own businesses, the party was still dedicated to helping the downtrodden escape poverty.
Osinbajo recalled that the GEEP microcredit programs, run by the Bank of Industry (BOI), received other international recognitions in addition to several awards, including the African Bankers Award twice.
According to him, the party is still dedicated to progressive, left-of-center ideology.
Osinbajo continued by noting that the APC administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari had made significant progress toward realizing this vision despite the world economy’s difficulties.
“Everyone who receives a loan has their information accurately recorded on our electronic system; they received cash via alerts on their phones, making all loans trackable and the entire process auditable.
Even our critics are aware of these accomplishments, though they only acknowledge them in private.
We cannot afford to be careless given where we were in 2014, the difficulties we overcame, and the very real threat of having everything the Buhari administration, our state governors, and our legislators at the national and state levels have accomplished undone.
Instead, he said, “we need to be proactive.
The vice president listed the duties of the committee, which included making sure that all internal party structures and outside engagements were carried out in accordance with the rules and the law.
Additionally, he claimed, it entailed protecting the party’s campaign at all levels from violations of laws, rules, and regulations by enforcing strict adherence to them.
Among other things, he added, “and to develop compliance checklists and protocols, train campaign staff, and prepare compliance reports for the party.”
While thanking the vice president for his dedication to serving the party and country earlier in his speech, Keyamo emphasized the committee’s significance, particularly in light of the upcoming national elections.
The vice president and other stakeholders’ support, he said, would help the committee succeed in carrying out its mandate before, during, and after the general elections despite the committee’s enormous task.
El-Marzuq claimed that the team was made up of carefully chosen attorneys tasked with offering the party all-encompassing legal services throughout the campaign season.
He claimed that the committee members were ready to perform in the various roles given to them.
