President Muhammadu Buhari has called on members of All Progressive Congress, APC, to unite and maintain party discipline.
He said this while giving the opening remarks at the party’s National Executive Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The President also praised the activities of the party’s 13-member caretaker extraordinary convention planning committee. He said that the committee set up on June 25, 2020 has restored the unity of the party and enticed top politicians from other parties.
Here is the full speech:
“I have received periodic briefings from the caretaker extraordinary convention planning committee, as well as other leaders of the party.
“I am convinced that in the last five months, since the appointment of the caretaker committee the initiatives taken have brought remarkably new atmosphere of hope in the party.
“Healthy debates are now taking place and the potential for organs of the party to affirm majority positions as the decision of the party is now possible.
“What is required now is for all of us as leaders of the party to maintain discipline and ensure that this new momentum is protected, sustained and the decisions of party organs are respected by every member.
“Despite the challenge to restore peace in the party and the series of elections at hand, the fact that we have gained more members and that we are not losing members to the opposition under the present interim leadership, indicates improvement of the party.
“In fact, we have begun to win back our members who left us and other notable political leaders are being attracted to our party.”
He added, “I want to appeal to all our party members and leaders at all levels, to try and make the required sacrifices so that we are able to collectively restore our progressive and democratic political party, which can nurture and give expression to our collective dream of building a strong, united and developed Nigeria.
“May I use this opportunity to remind all of us of the need to recreate our negotiation secret of 2012, 2013 under our legacy parties. What guided our success to achieve the merger that produced the APC was the respect we were able to have for each other.
” In those times, decisions reached at both formal and informal consultations were respected with trusted initiatives taken and believed that they were needed to produce the required political platform that could guarantee electoral victory.
“Everyone of us as leaders ensured that those decisions were respected.
I have through consultations of the caretaker committee and other leaders of the party, agree that our challenges in the party require that we take steps to rebuild the party from wards to national levels.
“The initiative to carry out membership registration revalidation is, therefore, a necessary, membership registration revalidation will lay the foundation for reorganizing our membership from ward to local government to state and national levels.
“The responsibility of our party’s NEC at this meeting is to adopt and dispassionately consider all proposals submitted by the caretaker committee and grant all the necessary approvals requested to rebuild the party.”
