Concerned chairmen of the ruling All Progressives Congress across the 36 states of the federation have recommended immediate sack and prosecution of unproductive, non-performing service chiefs, senior civil servants and appointees of government who sabotage the war against banditry, kidnaping and corruption.
The concerned APC chairmen, who operate under the umbrella of Forum of APC State Chairmen in Nigeria, reasoned that except drastic measures are taken to hold government officials accountable, the present administration’s efforts at tackling and curbing insecurity especially banditry and kidnapping as well as corruption might not yield the desired results
The APC leaders made the recommendations after a meeting with the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and also resolved to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to adopt tougher measures in his leadership style especially against kidnappings and corruption.
Barr. Alphonsus Ogah (JP), Chairmen APC Cross River and Secretary, Forum of APC State Chairmen in Nigeria read out the resolutions of the Chairmen who met earlier with the president at the State House.
He said the meeting with the president was specifically a solidarity meeting with and an opportunity to congratulate him.
“An African adage says, the woman who cooks food is never in a hurry to serve herself. A victory of Mr President from the poll through the election petition tribunal down to the Supreme Court which culminated sometimes in December. The forum of states chairmen have been waiting patiently because we are all aware of the very tight schedule of Mr President.
“Luckily, that schedule permitted us an opportunity on the 15th day of March, 2024 for us to have an interface with Mr President and in doing so, we saw it as an opportunity to congratulate him in all his numerous victories.
“We took the opportunity too to speak on some very important national issues. We align ourselves with the efforts of the economic reforms being made by Mr President. But we didn’t loose sight of letting the President to know that as good as this economic reforms are, we are concerned about the insecurity in Nigeria.
“We are concerned about the hunger and hardship and therefore it was a moment for us too to commend Mr President because we all agreed and you too will agree, that this country is on a voyage it would have been thrown it into oblivion.
“If subsidy was not removed, and if the floating of the Naira which through another name you can comfortably call subsidy on dollar, were not replaced by Mr President. The reality of this reforms today is only the headway that can give us light in this country. And we wasted no time in commending Mr President on that.
“We made it very clear to Mr President that no reasonable person will expect him as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to take up arms and go round the crannies of Nigeria to fight the criminal elements, bandits, kidnappers and the armed robbers. This was why the constitution of Nigeria has created the security agencies saddled with this responsibility.
“We commended the effort and contributions of Mr President in terms of moral boost, financial support for equipment procurement and all others. The only added advice we brought to him is that people at the forefront should be held accountable. And we were very firm but with absolute humility in telling Mr President that district police officers, or divisional police officers, Commissioners of Police, DSS, or anybody in the frontline of fighting and combating crime that is either lukewarm, taciturn, reticent, in being pugnacious should please be shown the way out.
“It was therefore a call on Mr President to wield the big stick on those who are not ready to help him because we have come to the conclusion some persons are out to distract Mr President and some persons are out to put this party in bad light. So, whatever efforts Mr President is making would be beclouded by the nefarious activities of these bandits and vandals. And we think the time has come for Mr President to say enough is enough.
“We also thank Mr President and we all agreed, that perhaps this meeting in march is not by accident because the gathering of great men, an August gathering in March, what March signifies in metaphorical terms is a movement. And therefore we are marching Nigeria to prosperity. We are marching Nigeria to the point of eldorado where the promises being made by Mr President will begin to have some very clear direction. And you will all agree with us like we asserted there and told Mt President.
“We told him to remain focused and stay on track that he has all of us, his district political officers at the sub-national levels to stand with him. We wasted no time in telling Mr President that our party needs to be strengthened. And in strengthening our party, we need to thank Mr President for giving us a man in the mode of our national chairman, Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje. A man that has been a wonderful father. A man that has been an adviser. A man that has been a caregiver. A man that has been so humble consulting state chairmen in every policy particularly the plan e-registration of membership of our party.
“Our national chairman came very prepared. He was focused in doing away with the fantasmagorial and the delusion of APC parading 41 million people when in reality we went into an election where we bearky got almost 9 million votes. It is time to face reality. Because we have a President who is a progressive. We have a national chairman who is a progressive. You have state chairmen who are very progressively minded. And therefore we will be most comfortable if today we know we have 10 million registered members in APC but we must match them with their PVCs.
“If you don’t have any PVC, we would await until the time you get your PVCs to now register with us so that we can match your registration with the PVC and we will be able to make a prognostication on what can be the outcome of an election even before 2027.
Meeting of APC State Chairmen with National Chairman at the party headquarters , in his response, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje remarked that the meeting was very important and also commended the chairmen for paying a courtesy visit to Mr President.
He said the president was so happy with the visit has granted the requests of the chairmen especially on political appointments, assuring that the president is already acti g on tbe request. “He is doing something about it already.
Ganduje emphasized on the reasons for the use of electronic registration by the APC, stating “we have been working with the consultant and our committee at the headquarters have gone far. Now, we are going to the grassroots level.
“It will be connected across the wards of the Federation but you need to understand the recruitment of officials or personnel who will undertake the exercise. Because you are involved in the recruitment and you are involved in the execution of the registration,” Ganduje said.
