A National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has denied claims that he has been making demands of President Muhammadu Buhari on whom the latter should appoint to his government.

smsshola:
A National Leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has denied claims
that he has been making demands of President
Muhammadu Buhari on whom the latter should
appoint to his government.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the
Presidential Villa last night after breaking fast
with the president, Tinubu said he respects
Buhari and remains loyal to him.
Ostensibly, the dinner with the president was
held in furtherance of the peace initiatives by the
ruling party to reconcile the warring factions in
the National Assembly.
APC lawmakers in both chambers of the federal
legislature have been at loggerheads since the
elections last month that threw up Senator
Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Hon.
Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House of
Representatives, in defiance of the preferred
nominees of the party for the posts.
The former Lagos State governor said: “I have
no demands. If you understand what party
politics and leadership is all about, it is about
loyalty and commitment to the values, which the
leadership believes in.
“I believe in what the president believes in. I
respect him and I stand firmly loyal to his cause.
So you can go to any length of speculation that
you might want, I have not responded to all of
that because I understand the president and the
president understands me clearly.”
When asked about the crises in the National
Assembly, Tinubu was evasive in his response,
stating: “That is an area where I am very
cautious of my position and my utterances. I still
want to keep my side of the interpretation or
analysis to be able to achieve a resolution of the
matter as quickly as possible.”
He stated that he was in support of what the
president had carefully enumerated and
articulated to the party on the issue, adding:
“The party is supreme. The party must have
disciplined leadership and followers. The party’s
process must be respected because that is the
confidence and the trust of the people.
“However in every environment, we could have
conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms
would be applied to resolve all the problems so
we are there.
“There is honour in every struggle and every
competition, there must be honour in victory
too.”
Tinubu also asked Nigerians to ignore the claim
by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that
Buhari was too slow, adding that Buhari could
not be expected to clean up the mess left behind
by the PDP's 16 years of bad governance in 30
days.
“We are different, we cannot be PDP, we are
APC, we will not repeat their mistakes. We know
their mistakes, errors, we understand what
Nigeria wanted and Nigerians gave this party
victory because of our manifesto,” he said.
“We are pro-people, we are progressives. We
have had a conservative government in the last
16 years, this is a progressive party, just coming
in barely 30 days.
“We understand the hopes of Nigerians, we
understand the expectations of Nigerians, we
believe in that expectation and in our promise of
prosperity to the people. We will not change
that,” he said.
Buhari, during the dinner with the APC leaders,
which also had the former Rivers State Governor
Chibuike Amaechi and Publisher of the
Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah in
attendance, appealed to the warring members of
the APC to reconcile their differences in order for
the party to deliver on its campaigns to
the electorate.
He also called on them to exert their influence
both in the party and the country, in order for the
party to achieve its campaign manifestos of
addressing security, economy, employment and
corruption.
He recalled the difficulties the party went through
to emerge strong enough to dislodge the PDP,
and asked the APC stalwarts to bury their
differences and unite for the sake of the country.
Buhari commended Tinubu for his support and
words of encouragement, noting that it was
important to reflect on their journey in order for
them to appreciate how lucky they are as a
political group.
He said: “I always like to go down memory lane
to show how lucky we are as a political group.
At no stage was the decision taken by chance, it
was all deliberate.
“The leaders of the parties felt the only way to
wrest power from the PDP was for us to come
together. I in particular was scared after previous
failures in the elections of 2003, 2007 and 2011.
“We dissolved our various parties to form APC
then we applied to INEC (Independent National
Electoral Commission), for once I was grateful to
INEC.
“We had gone with nine people to INEC to apply
and INEC advised us that we needed at least 25
people across the country to form a political
party. We were able to go back and raised 35
members across the country and then
successfully registered the party.
“INEC then informed the federal government that
we had met the requirements, hence we could
not be denied registration. Many doubting
Thomases said a merger had never succeeded in
Nigeria but here we are.”
Buhari explained that he decided to go down
memory lane so that the party’s leaders would
appreciate how far they had come, adding: “For
a society as ours, if we respect the constitution,
then all the greed and problems will be a thing
of the fast.”
“We should just look at Nigeria as Nigerians, no
matter the level you are, lose your influence so
that we can help achieve the manifestos –
security, economy, employment and corruption,
because if we don't kill corruption, corruption will
kill Nigeria. We have to ensure that people we
bring forward are those that will move the
society forward,” he said.
Responding, Tinubu described the APC as the
armoured personnel carrier (APC), saying it
represented the diversity of Nigeria.
While thanking Buhari for the opportunity to
break fast with him and for bringing together
people for various background regardless of
religious affiliations, he said: “We believe this
diversity will continue to propel us for economic
growth under your leadership.
“This is the first Ramadan after the election, we
thank God for cutting down the opponents’ 60
years of fake promises to 16 years.
“I heard them say we are slow. Yes, we didn't
campaign to be fire fighters, but planners and
meticulous ones at that. A latrine pit of 16 years
can’t be cleaned up in 30 days because the
mess is much.
“Mr. President you started well, you hit the
ground running. You promised Nigerians that you
will address security and your first meeting to
ECOWAS was on security because we cannot
fight it alone.
“You have been to other places; if they think it is
a game of Ludo, we will say it is serious
business. If they forgot G7 we will remind them.
“We have faith in you Mr. President, we have
faith in your capacity and uprightness. I’m here
filled up and not fed up.
“We promise to continue to be with you and
support you, no matter what they are saying we
are not re-running the election until four years
time.
“We pray to God to give us four more years of
this month and pray to Him to forgive our
misdeeds and for peace and stability.”