2019: APC Has Lost Goodwill Since 2015 _ Tinubu
For the first time since the 2015 general elections, national leader of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has met with the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in a move widely seen as the beginning of his new task as presidential negotiator into the crises bedeviling the party.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, which lasted nearly four hours, Tinubu, said though the party remained the hope of Nigerians, it had lost tremendous goodwill since the 2015 elections.
The APC leader spoke on a day Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the advice he gave Nigeria’s ex-Presidents to quit politics and join the retirees’ club should also be heeded by President Muhammadu Buhari in the interest of the nation.
Tinubu, who was recently appointed by President Buhari to reconcile warring parties within the party, said he was visiting the national secretariat as part of consultations on how to carry out his assignment.
He said: “Since we won the elections, the expectations were very high and the goodwill was extremely high. But where are we today? ‘’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, reposition it and build confidence among ourselves.”
Though he declined comments on whether he was among the foremost aggrieved stakeholders of the party, having last year called for the sack of Chief Odigie-Oyegun, Tinubu said challenges faced by the government and the President were enormous.
He said: “It is only because people are not paying attention to the various statistics that are available. 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 the country.
It is not easy to have those changes implemented like instant curfew. We have to grow and face challenges. I sympathize with us and we should equally look at ourselves.”
Tinubu’s visit to Oyegun
Welcoming Tinubu to the APC national secretariat, national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said the assignment given to him (Tinubu) by the President was significant to heal the wounds where necessary.
“Your visit is very significant, in view of your Presidential assignment which I will describe as a peace ambassador, to heal wounds where the party has wounds and bring everybody together behind one single objective, which is the APC being 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, major issues in Kano, Kogi, Benue states with the current challenges that we are facing. “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 most successful one.”
