By Joel Oladele, Abuja
The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Abdulahi Adamu has told the Osun State Governorship Campaign Council to spare no efforts to ensure that the party is victorious in the forthcoming election scheduled for July 16, 2022 as the National Working Committee (NWC) led by him has zero tolerance for failure.
Speaking during the inauguration of the campaign council on Thursday at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja, the Chairman said Osun State governorship election is the next hurdle to cross after the just concluded Ekiti State election where APC won with over 60%.
He further charged them to leave no stone unturned by doing everything possible within the laws of the land to win the election.
“We are here to inaugurate the National Campaign Council of the forthcoming Osun state governorship election.
“You will recall that just about a week ago, we were faced with the challenge that was posed by the governorship election of Ekiti state and with God’s own grace, we were able to scale with flying colors.
“We are going there to win by the grace of God. I urge you to leave no stone unturned. I urge you to go there and do whatever is doable within the laws of Nigeria and our electoral laws to win.
“My tolerance level and this National Working Committee level for failure is really really zero.”
He added that Ekiti and Osun governorship elections are litmus tests to the 2023 general elections, thus APC cannot afford to lose any.
“It will go in our credentials that we have the winning track record, this National Working Committee that you elected we have a commitment.
“What we mean by the commitment is the 2023 general election is facing us. We have to face it squarely. There’s no option to win the national election and these state elections are like forebears to the national election.
“We must show those who love us by showing those who are our adversaries in the strongest possible way that we are in control. The reality is Nigerians chose APC and we’ll do everything we can to retain this position of envy.
“Now, we have determined as a party, who will be our flag bearer in the forthcoming presidential election in 2023. We have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinibu as our presidential candidate. You all know that.
“These elections are the first steps we are taking towards victory in 2023. We must not play with this, we start preparing for this now.
“Everybody’s arrow is pointing at us, so we must show our capacity to bear the pressure and move our forces forward to victory. We are winning the battle of the states, but the real war to be won is the presidential election in 2023.”
Also speaking, the Governor of Kano state, who also doubles as the Co-Chairman of the campaign council, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje said the Campaign Council will work with the party stakeholders in the state to ensure the party is victorious.
“We congratulate members of the NWC for last week’s victory in the Ekiti governorship election in which we scored over 60%. We also want to congratulate the chairman for the victory at the election.
“Our National Chairman, we want to assure you that we will work day and night. We will be committed. Some of us have already started behind the scenes. One important issue about the Osun election is reconciliation. Internal dynamics of the party is very important.
“So reconciliation is totally necessary so that we will believe in each other. We agreed that all stakeholders in Osun state will come together and constitute one single force in order to win this important election.
“I am happy the Secretary of our great party is from Osun state and I think he is very useful to this election in Osun state.”
He therefore expressed confidence in the party as they are ready to win squarely without the election being declared inconclusive as it was in 2018 not minding the fact that the major opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is allegedly a moneybag.
“Some of us who participated in the last election that brought the current governor into office, we knew the interplay of variables that took place. And that led us to a new terminology in election, inconclusive election.
“I assure you Mr Chairman, this time this election will be conclusively conclusive. I believe the stakeholders in Osun State will add value to their preparedness, and ensure that the 30 LGAs in Osun State leadership have all prepared for this election.
“We will take the previous events and unify it and see how things stood at that time. And what variables that went in-between the election and now. And see how we can compete for success because this is our effort to our party.
“We are told that we are fighting an opposition with moneybags. But, we want to assure you that we are coming with strategy bags.
“We are seeking the cooperation of all stakeholders, especially our governors. Members of NWC to coordinate well with all the committees and stakeholders in conducting an election. So, we want to assure you that this election is a task that must be done within the processes of democracy and also within legal procedures.”