The National chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, has dismissed the recent visit of the opposition led by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, as a wasted effort and not a threat to the ruling party or President Bola Tinubu.
He stated that the opposition coalition is a joint venture that will fail.
Ganduje who made the statement when he led other members of the APC National Working Committee on a courtesy visit to former President Muhammadu Buhari at his residence in Kaduna state, said that the APC has indeed witnessed remarkable growth in numerical strength and popularity in the last two years, which has positioned it as Nigeria’s ruling party and the largest in Africa.
He attributed the party’s electoral successes, including winning the presidency and majority of the off-season elections, to progress in the party.
He added that such an electoral feat has largely contributed to its growth in popularity and membership.
The visit of the APC leadership came a few hours after some key opposition leaders led by the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, visited the former president.
Addressing the former president, Ganduje said the visit was a post-Sallah homage since most of the NWC members were out of the country during the Sallah celebrations.
He also said the visit was to brief the former president on the activities of the APC under his leadership and the successes recorded so far, including attracting more people from other political parties into the ruling party.
“Your Excellency, it has been a year and a half since I accepted the honour and responsibility bestowed on me and my colleagues to lead this great Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Though the journey, I must admit, has been very challenging to us as a ruling Party in view of the big task we have at hand and the expectation from Nigerians, however, we can sufficiently submit that we have collectively risen to the occasion and challenges by initiating a number of notable policies and programmes, aimed at repositioning the Party for greater gains”.
“Your Excellency, in our effort to further build on the fortunes of the Party, provide access and visibility to the leadership, the National Working Committee (NWC) at its first meeting resolved to be having regular weekly meetings. This initiative has opened our doors to consistent engagement and interaction with various support groups, State Chapters, local and international groups, Party members in the diaspora, and envoys, among others.
“Your Excellency, in fulfilment of our promise of taking the Party to the grassroots, the National Working Committee introduced a new people-centred approach to campaign administration. Instead of the usual practice of inaugurating national campaign governorship councils for states in Abuja, the campaign councils are inaugurated in the affected states to allow for more and greater participation by Party members and other stakeholders in their respective states”.
”Another promise we are fulfilling is the improvement of the membership base of the Party. Today, we have in our fold the former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Former Labour Party governorship candidate in Ebonyi state, Edwin Nkwegu, Senator Obinna Ogba, Senator Uche Ekwunife from Anambra state, and thousands of their supporters.
“Other decampees are former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko; former Kaduna State governor, Ramalan Yero; former Edo State Deputy Governor, Phillips Shuaibu; two-term Senator representing Edo South and former Clerk of the National Assembly, Senator Matthew Onoghide and Senator Halliru Dauda Jika”.
In his response, former president Buhari thanked the APC leadership for the visit, assuring them of his continuous support to the party, just as he expressed satisfaction with the wider acceptability of the APC by the majority of Nigerians.
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