The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate Senator Kashim Shettima on Wednesday, visited the national secretariat for a marathon meeting with members of the national working committee.
Asiwaju who arrived at 14:48 GMT in company of Shettima and Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila were received by the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and some NWC members of the party.
While interacting with the media, Tinubu passed a vote of confidence on the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and his executives berating those who he termed rumour manufacturers for concocting alleged feud between him and the chairman.
“It is a great matter of joy and honour for us to be here, especially me in particular, to interact with the team that authorised my becoming the candidate of our party. I have not been able to say sincerely thank you since that primary and we have hit ground running, especially as the unveiling of our running mate was held outside this headquarters.
“To all the members in attendance that day, we want to say thank you. We have come together as a political party and we have taken progressivism as our doctrine. We have to be progressive in our thinking, our did and objective to serve the country.
“To the rumour manufacturers, I read in some papers about disagreement between myself and the chairman and that was a very big lie. They didn’t know that we have come a long way. The big masquerade dance not in the cage but in the market square.
“And that is what Adamu use to be, full of wisdom, we were governors together, before God put us together on this project again. He is going to deliver as the Chairman of the party for me to become the president of Nigeria. And I am very confident of that.
“They can say whatever they want to say, throw all the jabs that they want, we are a party strongly determined to fulfil our dreams of turning Nigeria to a very progressive, highly developed, prosperous country” he said.
He disclosed that the purpose of the visit was to submit the interim report on the campaign council in order to perfect consultations with all stakeholders in preparation for the campaign which is few days away.
Tinubu noted that: “When INEC will lift the ban, how do we work out the details, work together, implement all we have been saying? Who are the members of the campaign council, who will not be members, and I beg you not to be angry if you are left out because we are going to give you another responsibility. Not every member here can be a member of the presidential campaign council.
“On behalf of myself, the team of the presidential campaign council, let me commend the DG and Secretaryof the campaign that have worked very hard to bring this report about the organisation structure. If they (report) need panel beating, you do so. It is not a red card that we brought. We are going to bring brighter hope and confidence to the country.”
Earlier, the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu set the agenda for the meeting having welcomed the presidential candidate and his entourage to the secretariat . “There was a gap in time before this meeting due to tradition and practice. We had a brief meeting before we came in here.
“We had some briefs from the presidential candidate. These briefs are very useful and important” he said.
APC support groups harmonize into Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Mobilization
Meanwhile, All the support groups of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC under the aegis of the APC amalgamated support group have now been harmonized into Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Mobilization.
The executives of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Mobilization led by its chairman, Dr Nasiru Ladan disclosed this while speaking with journalists today at the party’s national secretariat after a courtesy visit to the national chairman.
By this development, all the various support groups in APC such as South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), Tinubu Support Group, TSG among others are under the overview of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Mobilization.
Asked what the new group intends to campaign with bearing in mind the low rating of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Nasiru Ladan said:
“We will campaign with what the current government has achieved especially in sectors like infrastructures, we know there are certain grey areas and secondly the antecedents of our candidates. These are people who have made names for themselves in there own right as par what they have done in the various states where they were governors. These are accomplished business men and for now people who can form a formidable economic team so that they can move the country forward. This time we are going to talk to Nigerians sincerely, we can’t give what we don’t have.
On the contentious muslin muslin ticket, he emphasized that the worth of a candidate should be in his ability to deliver for the country rather than on his religion or ethnicity. “It should not be about the religion of our candidate but Nigeria first and with our candidates they will make Nigeria first.
