Yobe state Governor and National Chairman Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mai Mala Buni has predicted the party’s electoral success in 2023.
This, he premised on the conduct of a successful national convention on February 26.
Speaking Monday when he received an interim report of the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led APC National Reconciliation Committee, Buni who was represented by a member of the CECPC and former Senate President Ken Nnamani, said the submission of the report was coming at a crucial period the party was approaching its national convention and the 2023 general elections.
“Therefore, the findings of the committee would contribute in no small measure to a successful convention and the general election.
“You have painstakingly visited states where we have challenges and addressed them squarely. The great achievements the party has recorded in reconciling the differences among our stakeholders in Gombe, Ogun, Kwara, and many other states have justified the confidence the party has in your individual and collective capacities. You have truly done us proud.
“I wish to assure you that the Caretaker Committee will carefully study the report and implement the same to improve the unity and strength of the party,” he stated.
Submitting the report, the committee chairman, Senator Adamu, requested for seven additional days to enable the committee attend to the various petitions before it.
“In all, as of yesterday, we have received 47 petitions and you may wish to know that even this morning, there were people waiting for us to submit their petitions. We had promised Nigerians that we will do justice as humanly possible to everybody who is aggrieved through fair hearing and this is what we are doing.
“We had to come today to submit this interim because we are acting as boys scouts. A good scout obeys before complaints. So, we have been asked as of this morning to submit the report. We have submitted our interim report.
“Like we said when presenting the report, that there is still work to be done. Reconciliation is a work in progress. And we cannot pretend that we have taken care of every little thing that has come before us, but by the time the final report is ready, then we will be able to give you the actual report.
“As of today, we still have petitions coming in. People are still trooping in to come and see us and we cannot in all fairness stop them. Reconciliation is work in progress. Nobody will tell you that political conflicts that are based on ego in some cases, sometimes perception, none of us have control over that. Nobody has. So, we cannot stop them bringing their petitions but the first ones we get, we will do what we can to recommend to the party”, he stated.
Adamu added that by the time the committee finally submits its report, it would be the job of the CECPC to impose sanctions on any member who refuses reconciliation efforts.
The committee members are Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo, Senator George Akume, Mr Sullivan Chime, Alhaji Ali Saad Birnin Kudu and Hon. Yakubu Dogara. Others are Alhaji Suleiman Argungu, Dr. Mrs. Oluranti I. Adebule and Dr. Mrs Beta Edu.
Okorocha challenges Tinubu, Atiku, others
Meanwhile, a former governor of Imo state and lawmaker representing Imo West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has officially declared for Presidency, even as he challenged other presidential aspirants to show the world their records.
Prominent among those seeking the nation’s top jobinclude; former Lagos state Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Ebony state Governor Dave Umahi, among others.
The former governor, who made public his source of wealth, educational background and his contributions spread across the country, also challenged Nigerians to verify all his claims from the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
While officially declaring his presidential ambition Monday in Abuja, Okorocha said he remains in politics not because of what he can get but because of what he can give.
He also said he was not coming out to condemn the activities of the past leaders but to build and develop it to the better.
“I appeal to my party the APC to allow a level playing ground and Ibos must understand that power is not given, it is taken,” the presidential aspirant said.
He said the new Nigeria he is planning to build would encourage the judicial personnel, education sector and end poverty with “no look back remunerations. I challenge all those who want to become president to show what they have done in uniting this country.
“Nigeria needs a leader that can unite this country and give everyone a sense of belonging. If I say I will unite this country, believe me I will do so. There is no part of this country that you go that you will not see my signature.
“I am not from Sokoto state but my signature is in Sokoto state, I am not from Zaria, my signature is in Zaria. I am not from Kano, my signature is in Kano. I am not from North-central, my signature is in Jos. I am not from North-east; my signature is in Adamawa and Bauchi. I’m not from South-west signature is in Ibadan, Oyo state. I am not from South-south; my signature is in Cross River state. If I tell Nigerians I will unite this country believe me, I can do that.”
Power rotation
Speaking on the agitations for rotational Presidency, Senator Okorocha said: “I am not a candidate of rotation, neither am I a candidate of zoning. I am a candidate of justice.
“Maybe the South-east or the South has not been able to present their matter very well before the rest Nigeria. I’m sure if you tell a Muslim, my friends from the North and my brothers from Muslim Ummah that remember that the four of the principal cardinal of Islam is built on justice.
“It is for this reason that I think Nigerians might not know that at this crucial point when zones have taken their various turn of Nigeria and when it feels like it is the trunk of the South-east, a northerner will come out, he is simply saying to Ibos, who are you, that is it. Or our brothers from the South-west will come out, he’s simply saying to the Ibos, who are you?”
