APC Set Up Restructuring Committee To Win 2019 Election – Spokesman

Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bolaji Abdullahi, says the party is considering restructuring the country because it wants to win in the 2019 election.

Abdullahi said this during an interview on The Osasu Show, hosted by Osasu Igbinedion.

The spokesman explained that restructuring was part of the party’s manifesto in President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign in 2015.

According to him, the ruling party will not be able to ask Nigerians to re-elect it if it failed to fulfil its promise to restructure the country.

Asked why the APC decided to consider the idea of restructuring after many of its members, including President Muhammadu Buhari, had said no to it, Abdullahi said individual opinions should not be substituted for that of the party.

Recall that in January, 2017, six months after being set up, the ten-member committee to articulate the APC position on restructuring submitted its report to the National Working Committee of the party.

The committee headed by Kaduna state governor, Nasir el-Rufa’I has recommended for more devolution of powers to the states, specifically, urging that the police and prisons be moved from the exclusive to the concurrent list.

The committee equally recommended independent candidacy but with a caveat that individuals who intend to stand for elections must not have been a member of any political party at least six months to the elections in which they intend to contest.

Asked if the party proposed the 13 point agenda because it wants to win re-election in 2019, Abdullahi responded: “Yes, of course, yes… if you promise people something, the only way you can go back to them and say vote for us again is that you get it done.

“The whole idea on restructuring is anchored on the desire to have more efficient government and to bring governance closer to the people and put people in control of their lives.

“These individual positions don’t reflect the position of the party. What determines the position of the party is what is contained in the party’s manifesto.

“The government is produced by the party, therefore, the party takes responsibility for everything the government does.”