BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
Tahir Mamman, chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) constitution review committee, says with the turnout for the revalidation exercise, the party has a “strong base” to win the 2023 presidential election.
Mamman spoke with journalists on Wednesday after the APC’s constitution review committee meeting of its north-east stakeholders in Gombe.
He said it is common knowledge that the APC has enjoyed the goodwill of President Muhammadu Buhari, and expressed optimism that the party will remain in power “for a long time”.
According to him, Buhari is concerned about the fate of the party beyond 2023, and is putting mechanisms in place to connect the party to the grassroots.
He also noted that the revalidation and registration exercise of the party has been encouraging, saying “the first set of forms we rolled out was not even enough”.
“We know so much of APC revolves around our president from inception, but that’s why the president himself is quite concerned and focused on strengthening the party, the structures of the party, and its relationship with the masses,” NAN quoted him to have said.
“This is being done so that people connect with the party in terms of its progressive agenda, and the concern of the party to address the general problems of the country.
“This we are doing so that it is not going to depend on the acceptability of one person or not. It is going to be connecting with the masses.”
“People agitated for more forms and we have rolled out additional 24 million forms. At the end of the day, we rolled out 36 million forms for membership of the party.
“And you can imagine that even if two-thirds of that number come out and vote for our presidential candidate, we are home and dry; we have a strong base.”
He said the north-east stakeholders at the meeting had agreed to develop a common position in respect of what needed to be reviewed in the party’s constitution and other issues relating to strengthening the participation of women and youths.
On his part, Inuwa Yahaya, governor of Gombe, said the meeting was key for the APC in the north-east as it would serve as a preparatory platform to secure victory for the party going forward.
“This meeting will help us prepare the grounds on which we shall overrun the whole of the sub-region and have predominantly APC states and give the support to the national for APC to remain in power,” he said.
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