Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, on Saturday expressed support for the dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He also tackled those who he said had been laughing at him over his alleged botched presidential ambition with the NWC’s dissolution and the exit of the party’s former National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State insisted that he had not made any decision towards the 2023 election.
In a statement titled: ‘Becoming The Party We Were Intended To Be’, released on Saturday, Tinubu said, “To those who have been actively bleating how the President’s actions and the NEC meeting have ended my purported 2023 ambitions, I seek your pity.
“I am but a mere mortal who does not enjoy the length of foresight or political wisdom you profess to have. Already, you have assigned colourful epitaphs to the 2023 death of an alleged political ambition that is not yet even born.
“At this extenuating moment with COVID-19 and its economic fallout hounding us, I cannot see as far into the distance as you. I have made no decision regarding 2023 for the concerns of this hour are momentous enough.
“During this period, I have not busied myself with politicking regarding 2023. I find that a bit distasteful and somewhat uncaring particularly when so many of our people have been unbalanced by the twin public health and economic crises we face.
“I have devoted these last few months to thinking of policies that may help the nation in the here and now. What I may or may not do three years hence seems too remote given present exigencies.
“Those who seek to cast themselves as political Nostradamus’ are free to so engage their energies. I trust the discerning public will give the views of such eager seers the scant weight such divinations warrant.
“Personally, I find greater merit trying to help in the present by offering policy ideas, both privately and publicly, where I think they might help. I will continue in this same mode for the immediate future. 2023 will answer its own questions in due time.”
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The APC Leader, however, restated his support for the decision taken by Buhari on the dissolution of the NWC, stressing “I do not lament his intervention or its outcome. I lament that the situation degenerated to the point where he felt compelled to intervene.
“President Buhari is much more than a mere beneficiary of the party. He is one of its founding fathers. The APC does not exist in its current form without his singular contributions. That is not opinion; it is undisputed fact.
“Given these antecedents, he cares about the condition of the party as any parent would care for its offspring. President Buhari has done what any parent in his position and with his authority would do. The more troubling consideration is that so many trusted people acted in such a way as to force the president to put aside the issues of statecraft in order to address these problems.
P“The President has spoken and his decision has been accepted. It is now beholden on all of us, as members of the APC, to recommit ourselves to the ideals and principles on which our party was founded. While we recognise that people have personal ambitions, those ambitions are secondary, not sacrosanct.
“Members must subordinate their ambitions to the health and well-being of the party. Never should our party be defined by one person’s interests or even the amalgam of all members’ individual interests. A successful party must be greater than the sum of its parts.”
He commended members of the dissolved NWC, pointing out that “under their collective stewardship, the party earned great and important victories, not least the vital second mandate handed to President Buhari. President Buhari’s victory, and the overall electoral success of APC speak highly of them.”
While appealing to them not to challenge their dissolution in court, he assured that they will have an opportunity to return to serve the party in a leadership capacity, provided they get the support of party members.
He called on the generality of party members to rally round the National Caretaker Committee to deliver on their mandates, saying, “My fellow party members who now feel aggrieved by the NEC meeting, I urge you to accept the sacrifice you have been asked to make so that the air can be cleared, the party can assume its proper role of helping this government lead the nation toward enlightened improvement, and the party itself can grow and firmly establish itself as the best, most democratic party in the land.”
He also touched on the oncoming Edo and Ondo states election, urging party members and leaders to rally round the party’s candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu, stressing, “In this, Comrade Oshiomhole has a crucial role to play. I congratulate him for his equanimity and loyalty to the party and our President in accepting the dissolution of the NWC. I encourage him, now, to return to Edo State to energise the campaign for the election of Pastor Ize-Iyamu.”
On Ondo State governorship election, he said, “In Ondo, we must set the procedures for primaries and conduct that exercise in a fair, transparent manner that shows the Nigerian people the party has left turmoil behind.”
