APC Chairmanship: Sani Musa Intensifies Campaign Amid Buhari’s Alleged Preference For Adamu 

…Says He Cannot Be Pushed Away 

An aspirant for the chairmanship position in the forthcoming All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, Senator Sani Musa has continued to lobby party stakeholders amid reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has thrown his weight behind his opponent, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. 

THE WHISTLER had earlier reported how the president’s alleged endorsement of Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, had caused ruckus amongst other interested party bigwigs such as Sani Musa, Tanko Al-Makura, George Akume, Saliu Mustapha, Bawa Bwari and Mohammed Etsu. 

However, Musa in a statement at the weekend described Buhari as a democrat who would not impose his will on the party adding that he will continue with his consultation drive to remind stakeholders, leaders, members and supporters of his aspiration for the position of National Chairman.

“We believe in the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the President being a democrat will never subscribe to imposition against the will of the majority party faithful. Hence we shall continue our consultations and prepare ourselves for the national convention with the hope of winning the National Chairmanship contest,” the statement read in part. 

He however added that he was open to, “abiding by any genuine considerations with superior reasoning if brokered by Mr President in return for a consensus arrangement, and cannot be pushed away and in a manner like what is being peddled now as an endorsement of a non-prepared individual as one.”

The Niger East senator noted that the party needed total leadership reorientation for it to actualize its institutional potentials, even as he assured that he would be adaptive to a participatory and affiliative work style that will usher in visionary and pacesetting leadership for the party as that would give the party a new direction and philosophy.

According to him, as National Chairman, he and other members of the National Executive Committee would govern by the rule of law, abide by the party’s constitution, guidelines, manifesto and are in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“If given the opportunity to lead the party, I will completely re-engineer the internal structures and workings of the party,” he said. 

“APC needs total leadership reorientation for it to actualize its institutional potentials.

“Hence, I will be adaptive to a participatory and affiliative work style that will usher visionary and pacesetting leadership for the party that will give the party a new direction and philosophy.”

Speaking further on his plans for the party, Musa said, “My reform agenda for the party is expressed in what I call the three Rs for success, that is, Reconciliation,  Reorganisation and Redirection.  

“We need to immediately reconcile aggrieved members of the party at all levels on a sustainable basis. 

“We need to reorganize the party in such a manner that it is able to effectively mobilise all segments of the country from youths to women groups to meet up with the INEC timetable timelines for 2023 elections.  

“And thirdly we must redirect our efforts towards winning elections and nation-building and not wrangling. 

“Most importantly we shall govern by the rule of law, abide by the party constitution, guidelines, manifesto and in line with the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“We will run an inclusive leadership that is devoid of the habitual grain of the entrenched political culture of dynastic politics, sectionalism, favouritism, money politics, parasitism on the public payroll, cronyism and patronage.  

“We shall thrive to be self-funding and not rely on individuals that will later want to be dictating the tunes and which will create wrangling and disharmony in the party.

“Under my leadership, the party will embrace more technology in our operations which will reduce waste and abuse of our party best practices.

“We will run a party that will preserve the legacy of our founding fathers to build a strong country that is more tolerant, more prosperous and fairer by giving every member of the party equal opportunity. 

“Disputes are indispensable in democracy because democracy allows for different shades of opinions.  

“This in itself is not a disadvantage because it allows people to learn from such disputes and even matters that end up in courts afford the judiciary the opportunity to expand and develop the law regarding issues in dispute which serve as precedents for the future.  

“So I don’t see how disputes will affect the convention.  I do believe that once I emerged as the chairman of the APC, my reform agenda will address most of these challenges and reposition the party for the better,” he added.