…Says, he met the Party in terrible shape
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has said that he is not in a position to assess the level of commitment of some of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the party to the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential project.
He however said that in spite of the silence of some of the presidential aspirants who lost out in the June 8, 2022 presidential primary, they still remain members of the party.
Some of the presidential aspirants that contested against Tinubu and have refused to show any commitment to the Tinubu’s campaign Council included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Dr. Ogbonnay Onu among others.
Adamu, told journalists at a media parley on Thursday that it would a bit absurd for him to start talking for the presidential aspirants that are not openly seen showing commitment to the Tinubu’s project.
In the words of Adamu; “As for reconciliation, it is still work in progress and we have been doing it. We have been talking to them and these guys are still very much around the political space. You can ask them whatever your observations are.
“However, each of the aspirants at the convention is still alive and as journalists, you owe it a duty, having observed or having the state of mind that requires to know where they stand today,” he said.
Commenting on the state of the Party, Adamu said that he decided to embark on the reorganization of the Party since he assumed the reins of office in March this year owing to the sorry state of affairs he met it.
The APC National chairman said that he inherited billions of Naira in debts from his predecessor, adding that legal fees alone amounted to over N7.5 billion.
According to him; “We came to find that everybody was like on his own. Everyone was just doing what they wanted to do, no control, no system, no due process and just because you don’t want to be accused of anything, you just allow that kind of thing to go on. I am not that brand.
“My DNA has terrible allergy for that and I am sure most, if not all of my members in the NWC share in this. When we came here, we came to reorganize and reposition the party. You don’t see the party in a state of mess and just because you want to be decent, because you don’t want to offend anybody, you allow the rot that you inherited to go on.
“We found the necessity to reorganize the whole place and only God knows the extent of appreciation of the public that we got. Of course, every situation of change has its victims and ours will not be an exception and we didn’t do anything with any bias or prejudice.
“The main thing is the interest of the party, to reposition it in an election year. We will be abused, we will be falsely accused. Of course, we are humans, I am not saying we couldn’t have made one or two mistakes but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing we have done deliberately just to promote our own feathers.
“The fact of the matter is, go round the secretariat, there is no one person who has come here who is a member of my family – primary or secondary,” he said.
“Recently, we tried to introduce table payment. We know we don’t have 200 people working here but if you go to the payroll, you have over 200 people. Who are they? How did they come on our payroll? What are they doing for us? What is the nature of their jobs? Where are their letters of appointment? What qualifications do they have?
“You don’t because you want to avoid negative press and then not do this. We did everything in good faith and I don’t have any qualms about it,” he stressed.
