By Omeiza Ajayi

Four days after his affirmation as national chairman of ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday, formally assumed office at Buhari House national secretariat of the party.

Adamu, who arrived at the secretariat at about 10:30 am, said his emergence as chairman of the party was by providence, noting that as recent as a month ago, he never knew he would become chairman of the party.

Speaking at a brief handing over ceremony, Adamu said less than 12 months to the general election, all hands must be on deck to secure victory for the party, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari would not tolerate failure from anyone.

He said:  “It is only through God that we have emerged as the new National Working Committee, NWC, of our great party. Now, it looks so simple, but it is not our doing but the doing of Almighty God who made all this possible.

“A month ago, I didn’t know I will become the Chairman of APC. Here I am today, receiving the instrument and authority from the outgoing Chairman. Only God can do this. It is not my personal wisdom nor my charisma. It is not personal doings. There may be elements on the way but all this were made possible by the endorsement of Almighty God.

“I want to say on behalf of the new NWC that it is not going to be  easy time for us. We have a major event, that is, going to test the waters about how stable we are as a party, and that is the general election that is coming.

‘’For me, by the time, we start working, our main task will be how we handle the elections as a party. How will we win the general election? People are talking, oh, APC does not have an incumbent on the ticket. We will have the honor and the integrity and the legacy of the current president on the ticket.

“We will work day and night. We have less than 12 months to face the general election. So, everybody should buckle up. The little I have had about the president is that he has complete allergy for failure. So, failure will not be in APC from today.

‘’We will work for success together. If any of you my colleagues has an issue, don’t begrudge me. If there is any issue, let me know.

“I promise you in the spirit of collective leadership that teamwork is the only way. I cannot deliver alone. What I am asking for is something called ‘loyalty’. You have to be loyal. You must have one team. If you bring divisive tendency, we will deal with it. This country is greater than any one of us. And this party is bigger than any single member of this party. So, that is the spirit.”

Earlier in his remarks, chairman of the defunct Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC, and governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, charged the new NWC to sustain the gains of the past.

Buni said: “We have done our best from the membership registration and revalidation. We have done the ward, local government, state congresses and up to the convention but that cannot be without problems here and there. By and large, we have succeeded.

“We can say we have recorded 70 per cent success, with over 41 million membership.  Part of democracy is to agree and disagree at some points. But it is all about human management. The ability to manage the situation is what will keep this party together .”

Stakeholders accept Convention outcome

Meanwhile, the APC Rebirth Group has congratulated the new national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and other members of the executives that emerged from the just concluded national convention.

Convener of the group, Aliyu Audu, in a statement said: “While the convention itself falls short of our expectations, with regards to issues of transparency and proper management of the entire process, we accept the outcome as a victory to our campaign for the convention to hold within the legally allowable time, and particularly that this was done before the primary elections.

“We expected that the convention would be an avenue for the party to undergo the much needed rebirth, but we could not say this has been achieved to the satisfaction of our call and to the desire of many members of our great party, largely due to the manner the process was conducted.”

“While we understand that it is only natural to be disappointed when one fails to attain his or her goal, we are not unmindful of the incremental steps towards the attainment of this goal which the APC has recorded in the convention.

‘’We are also quite aware that reform is a tedious and long journey that can be broken down and handled time after time, and one administration after the other.

“Indeed, while we believe specifically that the consensus arrangement favoured by the party to elect the new executive could have been better managed, particularly with regards to timely consultation of all aspirants in the race and securing not only the withdrawal of their ambitions but also securing their supports for the eventual choice of the party in advance of the convention, this could have been much tidier with less need for further reconciliation exercises and surely more respectful of the withdrawing aspirants and all stakeholders.

“However, we acknowledge the maturity displayed by a good number of the aspirants who placed the collective interests of the whole party above their own personal ambitions. We applaud their doggedness, excellent display of good sportsmanship and urge them not to give up on the party, notwithstanding their misgivings about the convention.

‘’As committed party members, we believe this is not the time to relent, rather a time to redouble efforts towards achieving the goal of building a stronger and all inclusive party,’ the stakeholders said.’