September 08, (THEWILL) – Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, will deliver him as the president of Nigeria, sending a message to people he called rumour mongers that there’s no rift between them.
Tinubu stated this on Wednesday, after a courtesy visit to Adamu at the National Headquarters of the party, in Abuja. He was joined by his running mate, Kashim Shettima and some notable associates.
Tinubu was received by Adamu, after which they went into a closed-door meeting with other members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC).
There have been reports of disagreement between him and the National Chairman, over the composition of the party’s presidential campaign council, which he has now dismissed.
Speaking during the meeting, Tinubu, who expressed appreciation for the work Adamu has been doing since becoming chairman, reminisced about their time as governors.
He said fate reunited them and this time, as presidential candidate and National Chairman of the party, to which the latter will work to deliver him.
He declared that it “is a great matter of joy and honour for us to be here, especially me in particular, to interact with the team that authorised my becoming the candidate of our party. I have not been able to sincerely thank you since that primary and we have hit the ground running, especially as the unveiling of our running mate was held outside this headquarters.
“We have come together as a political party and we have taken progressivism as our doctrine. We have to be progressive in our thinking, our deed and objective to serve the country.”
He admitted that democracy is challenging, very hard and difficult a system to manage, but that “we have seen challenges left and right outside international sphere of politics, but we are determined to ensure that we democratise Nigeria fully and remain a beckon of democracy as the largest nation of black race in the world.”
In thanking Adamu for what he said has been a good job, and the cooperation and collaboration, particularly in exercising wisdom, he dispelled as rumour the alleged rift between the pair.
“To the rumour manufacturers, I read in some papers about disagreement between myself and the chairman and that was a very big lie. They didn’t know that we have come a long way.
“The big masquerades dance not in the cage, but in the market square. And that is what Adamu use to be, full of wisdom, we were governors together, before God put us together on this project again. He is going to deliver as the Chairman of the party for me to become the president of Nigeria. And I am very confident of that.
“They can say whatever they want to say, throw all the jabs that they want, we are a party strongly determined to fulfil our dreams of turning Nigeria to a very progressive, highly developed, prosperous country.
“What we came here today to do is to discuss the campaign which is few days away.
“When INEC will lift the ban, how do we work out the details, work together, implement all we have been saying, who are the members of the campaign council, who will not be members, and I beg you not to be angry if you are left out because we are going to give you another responsibility. Not every member here can be a member of the presidential campaign council”, he declared.
He commended the Director General and Secretary of the campaign that have worked very hard to bring this report about the organisation structure.
“On behalf of myself, the team of the presidential campaign council, let me commend the DG and Secretary of the campaign that have worked very hard to bring this report about the organisation structure. If they (report) need panel beating, you do so. It is not a red card that we brought. We are going to bring brighter hope and confidence to the country”, he said.
In his remarks, the APC national chairman thanked the party presidential candidate for the visit.
“There was a gap in time before this meeting due to tradition and practice. We had a brief meeting before we came to the mine field. We had some briefs from the presidential candidate. These briefs are very useful and important”, he said.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Tinubu said he was confident of victory and further reassured party faithfuls of genuine commitment of stakeholders to his aspiration.
His words: “We are not threatened. We are committed and we are very proud of ourselves, we are orderly, we are committed to democratic principles and values. We are not bickering in any way and you know that. Can you say that of the other parties? We are not spewing fake statistics and wrong figures, can you say that of other parties? Well, we are what we are, a progressive party.
“This meeting is to consult further, the organisation structure for the campaign for us to harmonise any fear and to make sure that we have an inclusive all party and all hands on deck to make sure that we are victorious during the election.”
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