The newly elected National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has taken a swipe at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Adamu in his acceptance speech after the exercise held at the Eagle Square in Abuja on Saturday said the PDP was sad with the outcome of the convention.
The PDP had mocked the ruling party over the failure to hold its national convention which had suffered several postponements.
The PDP also approached a federal high court in Abuja seeking the invalidation of the outcome of the just concluded convention.
But Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State who described the convention as “very successful,” said the eventual outcome of the exercise was a sad climax to the PDP’s expectations.
The speech read in part, “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.
“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.
“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 heal wounds in the party and engender lasting reconciliation among members, while going into the next general elections as a strong and united party.
He added, “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.”
