The newly elected National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has pledged to unite the members of the party, saying he was not going to disappoint anybody.
He also urged those who contested for the position with him to show spirit of sportsmanship and accept the outcome of the convention with grace.
Adamu was speaking shortly after he was elected as the national chairman of the ruling party on Saturday in Abuja.
In his acceptance speech, Adamu, who congratulated fellow party members, encouraged aspirants who did not succeed this time not lose hope, adding that in God’s appointed time they would actualise their ambition.
He said, “On behalf of my colleagues, the newly elected members of the National Working Committee of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), I’d like to express our gratitude to the Almighty God, our very sincere thanks to our leader, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, governors in the fold of our party, the chairman and members of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, (CECPC), delegates to the convention, to all our leaders at various levels, as well as to all members of our great party nationwide for electing us into these positions of very high responsibility.
“We accept the onerous responsibility that you have placed on our shoulders and we will work hard to ensure that we fulfill your expectations for the greater good of our great party and of our dear country.
“I wish to also congratulate the great party men and women who also aspired to occupy these national offices of our great party. They did not succeed this time but in God’s time, many of them will yet realise their ambitions to serve our party and country in many other positions of responsibility.
“As politicians we are not strangers to gains, losses and disappointments with the outcome of every political contest. Let us show maturity and good sportsmanship and accept the outcome of this convention with grace.
“Our party needs all hands on the steering wheel so that together we can steer the ship of state through the inclement weather of our divisive national politics to the promised land. I thank all of them very much for their spirit of sportsmanship and we will continue to count on their cooperation as loyal party members and patriots.
“As we conclude this very successful convention of our great party, I know that our opponents in PDP and other opposition parties are now sulking, wearing long faces of sadness, bewilderment and dismay. They had been hoping and praying to make a fortune out of our misfortunes. They were also hoping and praying to capitalize on assumed failures of our party to reap political benefits.”
Adamu lamented that for the past seven years the party has been battling to improve the livelihood of Nigerians through various policies, programmes and projects.
He therefore called for renewal of and recommitment of all the party faithful to resolve crises bedeviling the party at all levels.
The chairman: “For almost seven years now, APC administrations at the federal, state and local levels have been battling night and day in order to enhance the livelihood of Nigerians through various policies, programmes and projects.
“We need to renew our faith in our party and its leadership at all levels in order to herald a new dawn. We need to commit to the resolution of our crisis within the confines of our party constitution.
“We must resist the temptation to blow every minor personal disagreement into a major party crisis. It is time for us to do things differently. When we quarrel, we open our flanks to our rival political parties that are only too eager to exploit them for their own benefit.”
Adamu promised to effect lasting reconciliation among party members, adding he would run an open door policy.
He said: “I promise you here and now that we shall heal any wounds in our party; we shall effect lasting reconciliation among our members, and we shall go into the next general elections as a strong and united party.
“I offer my hands of friendship to all our members. I want to assure you that my colleagues and myself will run an open door policy to all members of the party.”
He argued that the Buhari administration in the history of Nigeria has performed as much as it did in building key infrastructure and in uplifting the living conditions of the people, saying, “No administration in the history of Nigeria has performed as much as we did in building key infrastructure and in uplifting the living conditions of the Nigerian people.
“Projects that once existed only in the dreams of Nigerians such as the second Niger Bridge, complete rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan dual carriageway, the Lagos-Ibadan express rail, the Abuja-Kaduna express light rail, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline and many others, have either been started and completed during our administration or have been inherited in abandoned conditions and have made rapid progress in the last seven years.
“No government can satisfy everybody, however hard it works. Some work will always be left undone and every work done will continue to need maintenance, expansion and improvement.
“We are, however, satisfied that APC has fulfilled its covenant with the Nigerian people.
“Of the three main pillars of its promises to the Nigerian people in 2015, that is, security, economy and anti-corruption, much progress has been recorded in all three areas and many more.
“APC is set to do much, much more when Nigerians continue to bestow on us their love, support and confidence in next year’s general elections.
“My dear compatriots, the eyes of the nation are on us; the eyes of Africa are on us; the eyes of the world are on us. This is a historic moment. There is no room for false steps. Our first step is to make our party the bastion of internal democracy. If a party is not internally democratic, it cannot offer the country true democracy.
“Together, let us rise and march towards the sunrise in our party and in our country. The time has come for us to show statesmanship to arrive at the new dawn. The time has come for us to be patriotic in words and deeds. The time has come for us to affirm our being the party of the people, for the people and by the people.”
Adamu appealed to the media to revive and uphold the patriotic spirit of the founding fathers of its profession, saying it should uphold the spirit of selflessness and patriotism and continue to work hard for the success of the country.
He said, “At this point, I wish to appeal to our journalists and media houses to revive and uphold the patriotic spirit of the founding fathers of their profession such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Malam Abubakar Imam, Alhaji Alade Odunewu and other media pioneers.
“Those great pioneers of Nigerian journalism always put the interests of Nigeria and its people above all other considerations and they always worked for the peace, progress and prosperity of Nigeria.
“Journalists and everyone else in Nigeria should uphold this spirit of selflessness and patriotism and continue to work hard for the success of the Nigerian project. It is not correct to assume that it is the work of political leaders alone that will make Nigeria great, that other citizens can sit on the sidelines and just observe and criticize.
“We should all remember the wisdom in the saying that the chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
He thanked President Buhari and other stakeholders for the confidence reposed in him and other members of the party leadership, and promised that they would not disappoint the party, Nigerians and Africa at large.
He said: “Mr. President, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, once more, I thank you very much for the confidence reposed in us and I solemnly promise that I shall not disappoint you, I shall not disappoint the APC and the nation.
“I shall not disappoint Africa. I shall not disappoint the world. So help me, Allah.”
