APC Leadership: Ex-Gov Yari And the great Task of Leading Beyond the Present Caretaker Realities

Ifeanyi Nwanguma, OWERRI.

The Caretaker Commmitte and Aspirants Forum of the All Progressives Congress, APC has called for reconciliation of aggrieved members across the party in the build up of Nigeria’s 2023 general elections.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC Aspirants Forum, Hon Chief Leo A Eke made the call in a press release made available to this newspaper on Saturday, November 21, 2020.

According to the release, the committee was saddled with the task of reconciling APC with all her aggrieved members following the 2019 general elections and other issues as well as deliver on a national convention where a substantive National Executive Council, NEC would emerge to lead the party into the 2023 national elections and beyond.

It added that “One of the greatest legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari in party leadership was his intervention at the time he did in June 2020 to arrest the free fall of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the ousted leadership of His Excellency, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole”

Chief Eke emphasized that the question of improved performance of APC during the 2019 elections compared to 2015 is still hypothetical as it cannot be easily justified and “it was to arrest the apparent drift that Mr. President, in his fatherly wisdom, stepped in, to order the setting up of a National Caretaker Committee led by His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni as Chairman”

“It must be said here that the greatest challenge of leadership in Nigeria today is that of healing old wounds and fostering mutual trust, respect and understanding between the North and the South”

The release added that consensus would be reached to zone the Presidential ticket and National Chairmanship post to the Southern and Northern parts of the country respectively to ensure all have and enjoys a sense of belonging.

“Barring odds and in the face of present political realities, the All Progressives Congress will most likely zone her presidency to the South while the North would hold the party national chairmanship. Political party leadership is delivered from bottom top by set structures which are elected from the grassroots congresses to the national convention. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of political parties germinate from this arrangement”

The Caretaker committee said the party must get it right this time around only if she must regain her losses in the forthcoming 2023 national elections noting that events of the past has caused the party difficulties in many quarters.

“The All Progressives Congress paid dearly in the 2019 general elections largely because her congresses in some states were marred by irregularities which were painfully challenged and won by the opposition in slew of law suits across the country”

Highligting the need for a promising national leader of the APC, the Caretaker Committed pointed former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari as the one who the national cap fits noting that he is a detribalized personality who finds home in any part of the country.

“This author has followed His Excellency, Abdulaziz Yari, the former Governor of Zamfara State since his days as a faithful and loyal federal legislator of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2007. HE Abdulaziz Yari was outstanding in the House of Representatives and it became possible to expand his coast through track record of performance and absolute loyalty to the party. He contested the gubernatorial election in his state Zamfara in 2011 and won in a landslide. He repeated the feat in 2015 to keep a two term clean sweep. Governor Abdulaziz Yari believes in the transformative power of intellectual energy as the surest means of liberating the black man. Thus, education received the highest impetus in Zamfara State under his watch as Governor”

They added that the former governor is a team player who believes in equity, justice and fairness as well as a level playing ground for all.

“HE Abdulaziz Yari is a team player who does not believe in raising stone walls around himself. During his successful two-term tenure as the Executive Governor of Zamfara State, he kept a record of hiring but never fired any principal staff of his regime. He believes in humanity and he maintained a humane agenda all through. Modern leadership has moved away from the realm of speculative practice to statistics and supper highway communication. Abdulaziz Yari believes in office automation and the support of world class consultants. With Abdulaziz Yari, the All Progressives Congress has the opportunity for a quantum leap from a whole mesh of challenges like impunity, crass arrogance, constitutional infractions, lack of internal democracy to a new era of due process, due diligence and adherence to discipline and best practice. Abdulaziz Yari is a man of many brilliant sides. Born in 1968, he is a bridge between the old and the new generation of Nigerian politicians. It is important to take this into consideration, given the new chapter presented by brilliant Nigerian youths as exemplified by the legitimate EndSARS struggle”

“Furthermore, His Excellency, Abdulaziz Yari, a two-term Governor of Zamfara State is a leader among equals. His ability to manage human and material resources stands him out all the way. While his tenure lasted as Governor of Zamfara State, he was the Chairman of the exalted Governor’s Forum, a platform that complemented the presidency to a large extent. It is on record that under his watch as the Chairman of the Governor’s Forum, the presidency enjoyed the warmest of relationships with the States, a cordiality that was elusive with the National Assembly at that time”

“It is unfortunate that primordial loyalties spontaneously reared up in the polity especially during the past few years. The net effect is deep seated hate and disunity between the North and the South. There is widespread call for restructuring of the the federal system, there is apparent insecurity from Sokoto to Bayelsa and from Lagos to Maiduguri. Intractable insurgency and banditry especially in the North have not helped matters. For eight long years, HE Abdulaziz Yari as Governor of Zamfara State was in the thick of curtailing ferocious insurgency and unbridled banditry in the region. His experience would certainly be invaluable to the party and its leadership given the opportunity to serve as National Chairman”

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