Former Lagos State Governor and the national leader
of the All Progressives Congress (APC ), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday expressed concern that the goodwill that heralded the party's victory in 2015 is now weaning.
Speaking at a meeting with the APC National Chairman,
Chief John Oyegun, and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the
party, Tinubu said the reason for some of the challenges party may have faced
is due to inexperience.
"We worked hard for victory. We have never
governed before, but we won the confidence of Nigerians to govern. We have a
creed to really serve the country, change and reform it.
“It is not easy to have those changes implemented
like instant coffee. We have to grow it and face challenges. I sympathise with
us, and we should equally look at ourselves. Since we won the election, the
expectations were very high and the good will was extremely high. But where are
we today?” Tinubu said.
Apparently referring to criticisms and concerns
shown by Nigerians over the performance of the APC-led administration, Tinubu
said there were a lot of things that the party met on assumption of office
which ordinarily are enough to overwhelm any government.
He however said the party and its administration
would remain undaunted in their determination to confront challenges as they
come and do something in improve the lives of Nigerians.
According to him, "It is only because people
are not paying attention to the various statistics that are available and we
had to push out but I won't touch those areas yet. The challenges of security,
the challenges of reforms and re-engineering of the finances of this country;
stopping the corruption and challenging the status quo to change and reform
ourselves is there. It doesn't go away overnight.
You should work hard at it."
The APC chieftain arrived at the national
secretariat of the party at about 2 p.m. on how to execute the assignment given
to him by President Muhammadu Buhari on how to reconcile aggrieved party men.
He gave insight on how he hopes to approach the
difficult assignment, saying he would seek advice and try to build confidence
among the stakeholders of the party.
"The solution is to seek opinion and advice on
the various complex issues around some states, or if there is any national one,
to reconcile, move the party in a cohesive manner and reposition it if needed and
build the confidence among ourselves.
"It is a great honour to be before you as one
of the leaders of this party. I am here to consult since you are already aware
of the directive and announcement of the president who is the leader of our
party and the president of this country," he said.
While speaking at the meeting which lasted for over
two hours, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Malam Bolaji Abdulahi,
said it was an exploratory meeting meant to spell out rules of engagement.
He said the leadership of the party made it clear
that it is ready to work with him to actualise the mandate. “In whatever way,
we need to assist Tinubu in this assignment, and we will be ready to do so,” he
said.
On the terms of reference, he said it is to
identify areas of conflict within the party and to find ways of resolving them
Earlier, while welcoming Tinubu to the party
headquarters, Oyegun expressed the hope that Tinubu's intervention would help
"to heal wounds in the party and bring everybody together behind one
single objective."
Oyegun, who described Tinubu as a peace ambassador,
also expressed the hope that the effort would succeed in putting the APC in
good condition to be a fighting political force such that in 2019, the election
will become virtually a runaway victory for the party.
"There is no question at all that we have
major issues with the National Assembly, and in Kano, Kogi and Benue States.
So, we truly welcome your appointment, and I want to say that we will give you
all the assistance that you will possibly need to make your assignment a
successful one," he said.
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