Oshiomhole says APC will rule Nigeria beyond 2023

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has expressed confidence that the party will continue to rule the country even beyond the expiration of the second term tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Speaking at a meeting with governors of the party on the platform of Progressive Governors Forum, Oshiomhole called for synergy among party members to move the party and the country forward.

While admitting that the task of leading the party has been quite challenging, Oshiomhole said: “It is quite a challenging experience for me. I try to compare myself as a governor and now as chairman of a party, coming in at the eve of primaries and dealing with fall outs of the previous congresses and then proceeding to conduct elections.

“Then conduct primaries and campaigns across the 36 states and the FCT. And, working hard to ensure that we secure as many votes we can for our president.

“As well as support our states particularly where we didn’t have state governors to ensure that we are able to lend a helping hand.

“I am happy to say that at the end of the day even though we lost some states we also gained some states.

”We gained Kwara, which for us is extremely important. And, we also gained Gombe state which is also very strategic among others.

“Of course, we have a clear majority in the National Assembly. We have more senators elected on our platform. We also have more of House Representatives elected on our platform.

“As it stands there are many cases in court. And until those cases are resolved, we won’t be able to say for sure where we stand. It is our prayer because we believed that a lot of our cases in court have merit. We hope that there will be justice and they are resolve in our favor.

”We also want to congratulate you for having being reelected. Sometimes it is easier to be elected the first time. But to be reelected implies a huge vote of confidence by the people of your respective states.

“And Looking at things from here, I know a lot went into trying to seize the deliberate attempt by the opposition to discredit the good ones. Like, we have said during the retreat, we believed our party has made a lot of progress in the three key areas that were reflected in our manifesto.

“But, there is a lot to be done. And I am sure working together at both the executive, state and federal by the special grace of God, we will do better in this second time. As to merit, our party will continue to govern the country post 2023.”

The delegation of the Progressive Governors was led to the meeting by their Chairman and Kebbi Governor Atiku Bagudu.

It included Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and Deputy Governor of Yobe state, Idi Barde Gubana.

The meeting, which held behind closed doors lasted for about two hours.

But neither the party nor the Governors were forthcoming about the outcome of the meeting.

The meeting was however believed to have discussed the lingering crisis in the party, the need for true reconciliation and how to move forward.

Apart from the letter written to Oshiomhole by the Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Lawan Shuaihu asking him to resign, the Director General of the Governors Forum, Salihu Lukman also wrote Oshiomhole on the needs for immediate and total reconciliation.