Adams Oshiomhole, the All Progressives
Congress (APC) National Chairman, has said that with the emergence of
President Muhammadu Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate for the
2019 election, it is set to especially, engage the opposition
Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) on issue-based campaign.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports
that Oshiomhole stated this in his address of welcome at the party’s
National Presidential Convention, which ended in the early hours of
Sunday.
President Buhari pulled a total of
14,842,072 votes at the party’s recent presidential primaries held
across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) as announced by Dr Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor-elect.
Fayemi, who was the Chairman,APC
Presidential Primary Committee, later asked the no fewer than. 7,00
delegates from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) to affirm the president’s candidacy through a yes vote,
and they did affirm the candidacy.
Aside the statuary delegates, the
delegates who were drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), were made up of three from each Local
Government Area.
They were elected at the party’s State Congresses held earlier in the year.
Oshiomhole maintained that with
President Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate, it was now ready
for the 2019 election, adding that the president had given a good
account of himself as a leader who led by example.
He added that unlike some political
parties in the past, the APC decided to elect President Buhari as its
presidential candidate for the 2019 presidential election using the
direct primary mode to give all party members a say.
Oshiomhole said, “unlike the other party
which printed only one presidential form and came up with 2 million
signatures from unverified individuals in 2015 , the APC chose a more
democratic process, using the direct primary method which gave all
registered party members a true sense of participation”.
He said that the APC would scrutinise
the records of whoever the opposition party, especially the PDP, brought
up as its presidential candidate for the 2019 election.
This, he said, would be done with a view to bringing their past deeds to the public to enable them to make good choice.
“The other party is choosing its
candidate in Port-Harcourt, we will look at the records of the opponent,
we will look at his pedigree, we will challenge them on their track
records,” he said.
The national chairman, however,
dismissed claims by members of the opposition PDP that the Federal
Government was being selective in its anti-graft war.
He also said that the complaints by
opposition figures that the President Buhari-led administration was
being heavy-handed should be ignored.
According to him,the present government
was being too mild compared to past administration which he said always
harassed and intimidated those in the opposition, saying that he was a
victim of such harassment.
“As a sitting governor then, I was denied the use of a public airport.
“Mr President, sometimes I feel you are
too mild. I was under threat of impeachment, I had to remove the roof of
my State House of Assembly in order to survive.
“One of your predecessors used seven
people to remove a sitting Governor. I am, however, not in anyway
suggesting that you do the same,” Oshiomhole said.
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