The ruling All Progressives Party (APC) has on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 inaugurated a 65-man high-powered Contact/Strategy committee with a view to rebuild and reposition the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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The high-powered committee, Daily Telescope observed, had 12 governors, two former speakers of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara and Oladimije Bankole, Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege and many party’s top machinery as members.
The committee, headed by the Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar was inaugurated on Wednesday by the National Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Governor Buni said the party is working towards retaining power for 32 years, assuring that the review of the APC’s constitution would take care of ambiguous positions and loopholes that have caused confusion and controversies in the party over the years.
He said the committee was formed to consolidate the party in order to make it stronger, noting that “Our vision is to provide a wheel that will drive the party to 6th, 7th and even 8th term of office to effectively implement the party manifesto, improve the lives of Nigerian’s leading party.”
However, some politicians, who spoke to Daily Telescope, have divergent views on whether the committee would come up with positive results or not.
Senator Mas’ud El-Jibril Doguwa, a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano, said Nigerians still like APC and will patronize it in the future elections if the party would change its strategies in approaching issues affecting the people.
“The inauguration of the committee is timely. It will make serious impact if the party takes issues affecting Nigerians seriously. Such effort will enable the party change its strategies and correct its past mistakes.
“So, members of the committee should focus attention in changing the psyche of people on the security situation in the country and some other important issues that are affecting the lives of Nigerians. And if the APC really wants to achieve this, the committee should be allowed to work without any interference.
“The committee must work hard to please Nigerians because they had some grudges against the party. It should also try to reconcile the little misunderstanding among the APC members across the states,” he empasised.
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Doguwa, who is now a card-carrying member of the APC, added that the committee must enhance internal democracy within the party, where people would be allowed to elect candidates of their choice during elections without any hindrance.
He said: “If the party can achieve all these, I can assure you, APC will make headway in the 2023 general elections. However, anything short of that, I do not think the committee will make any positive change in APC.”
On his part, a staunch member of the Kwankwasiyya-led faction of the PDP, Alhaji Sanusi Surajo Kwankwaso said the committee would not make any change in the APC, saying, “For many Nigerians, APC is like a snake in a hole, whoever puts his hand inside, the snake will surely bite him. And whoever a snake bites in a hole, that person needs not to be warned to desist from the hole, because if he puts his hand again, the snake will bite him for the second time.
“In a nut shell, Nigerians have suffered enough under the APC-led government; hence, they do not need to be told that come 2023, they should vote the party out of power. The party has promised to fight corruption and insecurity, but it has failed the country woefully.
“Take the issue of insecurity for instance, when the APC assumed power, the problem if insecurity was only limited to Borno and Yobe, but today it is everywhere. 50-100 innocent people are being killed on daily basis.
“The APC government has increased fuel price severally, we have no enough power supply in the country, poverty has ravaged the country and there is no good roads and other social amenities. So, I wonder what this committee will tell Nigerians to convince them to elect the party in the next election season. I am sure members of the committee will be chase away in some places.”
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kwankwasiyya-led faction, Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagi said the APC’s rebuilding and reposition is an exercise in futility.
“We should ask ourselves, what APC is reconciling party members and general public for? Are they pacifying the Nigerian citizens that they failed to provide security which they based their campaign as number one promise or are they pacifying Nigerians of their failure to provide them with required employment?
“From 2015 to date, the rate of unemployment has been rising speedily instead of declining. And our economy is in crisis even though they are denying it. All the economic indices are going towards the opposite direction. For instance, inflation is increasing instead of declining and so also unemployment rate.
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“So, most of the micro-economic indices are going in the opposite direction which indicate the economy is sick. Look at the security, the situation we were before the coming of this administration, at least prove to be a lot better than what we have now. So, are they pacifying Nigerians on these? Let them come out and tell Nigerians that they have failed.
“They have failed party, they have failed Nigerians and they have failed Africans. For me, they are just trying to wake up the dead because APC is already dead and I can assure you, PDP will bury the APC come 2023. Nigerians are tired of APC and will reject it in the next election season,” Sagagi assured.
