BY Fredrick Nwabufo
After failing to secure his desired position of running mate to Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC)in the 2015 presidential election, Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state, has now been announced as director-general of the party’s presidential campaign organisation.
He is to devise creative means by which the party would win the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking through Lai Mohammed, its spokesman, on Thursday, APC said Amaechi was chosen because of his reputation “as a man of courage, principle, strength of character, decency and love of country, as well as his administrative prowess and organisational skills”, which have combined to fetch him perhaps the most important task in the quest for positive change in Nigeria.
The party expressed belief that it fufilled its promise to ensure that the choice of its presidential running mate would be made within the context of the best democratic ideals, considering the positive reactions from the general public to the choice of Osinbajo.
”With a presidential candidate that has rekindled the hopes of the citizenry and revived their belief in democratic ideals, we believe we must also choose a running mate that will complement the sterling qualities of the presidential candidate.
“We must confess that the choice was a tough one, considering the array of eminently-qualified and outstanding candidates that we had to choose from.
“Yes, we were spoilt for choice but, in the end, we picked as running mate a man whose pedigree, nationally, sub-regionally, regionally and globally, attests to the fact that our party, the APC, is a repository of high-quality leadership materials, and that our country, Nigeria, has no shortage of the very best human resources.”
It said whether in the academic, legal or ecclesiastical world, Osinbajo stood much taller than his physical frame and served as a good accompaniment to its presidential candidate.
“Our presidential running mate is an award-winning professor of law, a legal luminary, a gentleman, a much-sought-after public speaker, a tested administrator, an author and a man of great ecclesiastical standing,” the APC said.
“Educated in Nigeria and the UK, Osinbajo is a barrister and solicitor of the supreme court of Nigeria, who has served in many organisations and professional bodies in Nigeria, West Africa, Africa and the United Nations. He has authored or edited over a dozen publications, has taught and practised law at the high levels, and has served on the editorial boards of learned publications and non-legal publications, in addition to publishing many articles in learned journals.
“Now that we have presented Nigerians with the best-possible choices for the exalted positions of president and vice-president, we expect that citizens, who have been yearning for quality leadership, will use their voting power to put Nigeria firmly on the path of greatness. A country seeking to be among the greats in the comity of nations cannot afford to have a mediocre leadership.”
Amaechi, one of the heaviest financiers of Buhari’s presidential race, made spirited efforts to emerge Buhari’s running mate, but lost out ultimately with the party’s decision to zone the slot to the southwest.
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