Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
The leadership of the All Progressives Congress will ratify the list of persons to be appointed into the Federal Executive Council before presentation to the National Assembly.
It was learnt in Abuja on Wednesday that party leaders were seeking to restore the party supremacy which some alleged was lost during the 16 years that the Peoples Democratic Party held sway.
A prominent northern leader of the party, who pleaded for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the APC was working to avoid the pitfalls which led to the collapse of the PDP.
He said, “We are looking at a situation where the party will direct the affairs of government in line with our manifesto. Recall that this was largely the case during the second republic.
“But since 1999, what we have seen is the rise of individuals whose personal interests took precedence over the general interest of the party and the people.
“The APC cannot afford to let this happen because we have a social contract with the Nigerian people who voted for the party based on the promise to bring about change in the polity.”
According to him, under the APC administration, there is no way the President’s wife would have the latitude to meddle in the party affairs to the extent of dictating who got appointed and who did not.
He said, “This time around, the party will make an input into how its elected public office holders conduct the business of delivering on promises made, because we, as a party, will share in their success and will also share in the blame, should they fail.”
In an interview with The PUNCH, a leading member of the party and former governor of old Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said as a party, the APC would be guided by the constitution.
While responding to a question as to how members of the cabinet would emerge, Onu said the APC was a party which was determined to do things differently to ensure that Nigerians get value from government.
He said, “In forming government, you have to make consultations with the party. We are a party of change, we are a party that is looking forward to building a Nigeria that many of the problems we have today will be solved, and we can’t do things the way they were done before; knowing that the way they were done before didn’t give the results that were desired.”
JOHN ALECHENU
