The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has spoken about the outcome of the presidential election, and the party’s preparation for tomorrow’s governorship.
He also shed more light on zoning of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, and the call for his resignation, among others.
When asked what the party has learnt from the 25 February presidential and National Assembly elections exercise ahead of the governorship and state assembly polls, he said: “The very important and unfortunate lesson we have learned in APC is the fact that ethnicity and religion have been brought to the forefront, far beyond what had been our experience before now. No matter what you think of the other factors that are also relevant to the election, that step that our people took is, for me, a setback.
“We do hope and pray that all politicians who are desirous of deepening democracy in this country will take a very critical look at this situation to get the country out of this mess of religious and ethnic politics.
“However, we did well. We never set out to have a perfect election, but we set out to have a free and fair election, which we have done.”
Speaking on what APC is doing to avoid the upsets of the last election in this Saturday’s governorship poll, the party chairman, Adamu said: “Having gotten some setbacks here and there, we are back to the drawing board again to see what we can do, where we made mistakes and wrong assumptions, and then correct ourselves. By the grace of God, the governorship and state assembly elections will be better for our party.”
On zoning, Adamu stated that the election is still on, and the inauguration of the National Assembly is sometime in the second week of June.
“So, why the hurry? There is nothing wrong with you consulting or presenting yourself to your colleagues; but why beat the gun?
“We don’t want the 8th Senate experience to happen this time. It was a very bitter lesson. At the last meeting with the lawmakers-elect, we told them very clearly to wait for the president-elect and the leadership of the platform on which they were elected.
“If there’s the need to link up with other parties to increase our membership in the National Assembly, the party will do so. But for God’s sake, don’t beat the gun. We have a very delicate situation on our hands, and we have to be very careful how we handle it.”
Speaking on whether Nigerians should expect a Muslim Senate president, Adamu said: “That is not for me to determine. But I want to assure you that we will be as equitable as we can and sensitive to the sentiments of Nigerians. It is not for me to decide at this stage. Mine is to lead the party to be fair-minded and equitable.”
On his reaction to the opposition parties going to court to challenge the outcome of the presidential election, he said: “I wish them a safe journey. It’s their right to go to court. I do hope that when the court decides for or against them, they will accept the verdict. Sometimes, it amazes me that Nigerian politicians don’t have the heart to bear the loss when they lose an election.
“We signed a peace agreement before the election, they have thrown that into the bin already. Why is the election fair in Lagos where they won, and not fair in Borno because they lost there? The same umpire, the same rules.
“This is the most peaceful election Nigeria has ever had. This is the only election in recent times that people are not talking about vote buying.
“What surprises me most is that some developed countries are listening to this thrash. They are not being fair to us. How old is democracy in Nigeria? How old is it in America? Didn’t Donald Trump try to topple the government of America because he didn’t accept the election results? This is naivety beyond one’s comprehension. We have won the election, free and fair.”
Speaking on his reaction to the call for his resignation by one of the APC NWC members, Adamu said: “I don’t have time to take on Salihu Lukman on that. I have more important issues to think about, talk about, and attend to. I don’t want to condescend to that level.”