The new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has promised to run an open door policy and turn the fortune of the party around for good.
Adamu had spoken at the conclusion of the party’s national convention, after he was declared winner of the national chairmanship election held on Saturday in Abuja.
He has taken over the reigns of leadership from the defunct caretaker/extraordinary convention planning committee, chaired by Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni.
Adamu , in his acceptance speech, said he accepted the onerous responsibility that has been placed on his shoulders and promised to work hard to ensure that expectations for the greater good of the APC and of the country are fulfilled.
While congratulating all aspirants including those who lost out, he explained that politicians are not strangers to gains, losses and disappointments, which follow every political contest.
“Let us show maturity and good sportsmanship and accept the outcome of this convention with grace. 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”, he said.
Adamu also took a dig at the Peoples Democratic Party, saying, “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 capitalise on assumed failures of our party to reap political benefits.
“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.
“I promise you here and now that we shall heal any wounds in our party; we shall effect lasting reconciliation among our members, and we shall go into the next general elections as a strong and united party.
“I offer my hands of friendship to all our members. I want to assure you that my colleagues and myself will run an open door policy to all members of the party.
“No Administration in the history of Nigeria has performed as much as we did in building key infrastructure and in uplifting the living conditions of the Nigerian people.
“Projects that once existed only in the dreams of Nigerians such as the Second Niger Bridge, complete rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan dual carriageway, the Lagos-Ibadan express light rail, the Abuja-Kaduna express light rail, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline and many others, have either been started and completed during our administration or have been inherited in abandoned conditions and have made rapid progress in the last seven years.
“No government can satisfy everybody, however hard it works. Some work will always be left undone and every work done will continue to need maintenance, expansion and improvement.
“We are, however, satisfied that APC has fulfilled its covenant with the Nigerian people. Of the three main pillars of its promises to the Nigerian people in 2015, that is, security, economy and anti-corruption, much progress has been recorded in all three areas and many more.
“APC is set to do much, much more when Nigerians continue to bestow on us their love, support and confidence in next year’s general elections.
“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.
“Together, let us rise and march towards the sunrise in our party and in our country. The time has come for us to show statesmanship to arrive at the new dawn.
“The time has come for us to be patriotic in words and deeds. The time has come for us to affirm our being the party of the people, for the people and by the people.”
