…Says APC have moved to reconcile with aggrieved aspirants
By Ezeocha Nzeh and Stella Omona
As campaigns for the 2023 General Elections take central stage, the All Progressive Party (APC) has maintained that aspirants who lost out in the party’s presidential primary have joined forces to deliver its presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu
This is even as the party said it has commenced moves to reconcile all aggrieved members, to ensure that the party goes into the elections as a united body
National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdulahi Adamu said on Thursday that reconciliation efforts are on top gear to bring in all aggrieved members, particularly aspirants that vied for the party’s presidential ticket.
It would be recalled that some APC leaders, especially those who contested and lost the presidential ticket of the party have remained silent in the party’s affairs since after the presidential primary which was won by senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, amidst protest, at the primary venue by some of the aspirants
It was also gathered that an earlier move to bring the aggrieved aspirants to a meeting with Tinubu was rebuffed by the aggrieved aspirants who could not respond to invitation letters and messages sent to them by another aspirant, Felix Nicholas, leading to an indefinite postponement of the meeting
The former Nasarawa Sate Governor, who stated this during a media parley in Abuja, noted also that the party is committed to youth empowerment.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who said that all the presidential aspirants have now declared support for Tinubu, challenged the media to meet the said presidential aspirants to hear directly from them.
Adamu dismissed the claim that all the presidential aspirants that lost to Tinubu during the national convention of the party in June have been working underground to scuttle the presidential aspiration of Tinubu.
“To the best of our knowledge they are (supporting Tinubu). One thing which the fourth estate of the realm owe as a duty is that each of the aspirants for the presidency of this country that presented themselves during the June convention of the party are still alive.
“I don’t see any reason why you have not taken the initiative having observed or having the state of mind to know where do they stand today, none of you have any restrictions to meeting any of these candidates.
“It is not for me to observe, to start talking for them if you notice anything that is not the normal. Or you want something from them that you have not seen. Nothing stops you from talking to any of them.”
He lamented that despite its landmark achievements, the ruling APC is not being given equal coverage by the media.
While reacting to allegations that some directors in the party were sidelined on his assumption of office, Abdullahi refuted the claim saying that he decided to reorganize the party since he met unpaid salary arrears.
‘It is untrue that some directors are sidelined. We met unpaid salary arrears and we had introduced table payment. We had to reorganize the place and we did it without any bias or prejudice.
“Reconciliation is work in progress. All the aspirants are keying into our party’s programmes. I don’t see any reason why they should not key in. As for reconciliation, it is work in progress.
“So far no party known to us has tried to do what we are doing to ensure that the youth are empowered,” he stated.
He called on the media to always help to propagate it’s activities in good light noting that his party cannot succeed without the media.
“We are going to campaign so we need maximum media coverage benefit. We do not want to run a solo outfit. We want to carry the media along. We want to continue to be ruling party and we need the media to succeed,” the APC chairman stressed.
2023: We are under attack, LP Chairman cries out
By Ezeocha Nzeh
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Comrade Julious Abure, has cried out that members of his party are facing a coordinated attack in some states of the federation.
The LP chairman raised the alarm when he received in audience a delegation of Interfaith clerics at the party’s National Secretariat, in Abuja, on Thursday.
He said, “We have had attacks in Ebonyi, Enugu, Lagos and elsewhere. First they said we had no structure, now they have seen that the people are our structure, they have plans to attack our members across the country.
“ Only yesterday, after our meeting we had planned to cry out to Nigerians to pray for us. Today, the Bishops and the Sheikhs came to pray for us , it is a confirmation that 2023 is the year of the Lord.”
Abure, who called on the delegation to pray for violence free general election in 2023, noted that many people argue that campaigns should not delve into the past but that it would be out of place not to because “You cannot treat an ailment without proper diagnosis. You cannot talk about solutions without looking at the challenges.
“In the area of security for instance it is the failure of leadership, people are kidnapped and phone calls are made yet no arrest.
“In the economy, we are suffering from a double-digit inflation, and people are hungry.
“For us in the Labour Party, we believe Nigeria had what it takes to ensure that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry even if we can’t build skyscrapers, we can grow food to feed ourselves.”
The LP National Chairman further said, “The APC and the PDP are owned by money bags who sit in the comfort of their homes and decide who becomes what politically.
“We formed the LP to bring succour to Nigerians. For us in Labour Party we are ready to provide leadership, we are prepared to take Nigeria to where it ought to be.
“I say without fear of contradiction that the LP has the best presidential candidate in the person of Mr. Peter Obi.
“We dare say no amount of tear gas, attacks and intimidation can stop an idea whose time has come.
“We must look at the age and the health of candidates because we cannot handover a Sick country to sick people.
“People who have started rushing to hospitals outside the country even before campaigns start proper.
“The Labour Party has what it takes to change the reality not just the perception. For many decades, the political oligarchy in this country have been using religious and ethnic divisions to divide us.
“When Buhari took over in 2015 the number of out of school children was between 7-10 million but today, 7 years after this number has jumped to over 20 million with most of them in the North. This is not about religion or ethnicity, it is about taking back our country.”
Earlier, Archbishop Kawas, who led 65he Christian faith explained that their visit was first to pray for the party and it’s leadership and pledge their support.
He said, “We are not fake bishops, we are real. We are here to pray for the party and the leadership, we are just Representatives of millions of members across Nigeria.”
His Muslim counterpart, Sheikh Murtala Mahmoud said, “We want Nigerians to try a new person, Peter Obi is new. We want unity between Christians and Muslims in the interest of Nigeria that is why we are here.”
