President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the stand-off between the executive and the National Assembly is slowing down the processes of governance.
The president spoke yesterday in Abuja during the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Buhari said the APC-led government was working hard to resolve the differences with the National Assembly in order to move the country forward.
He implored party leaders and members to put their hearts together and support Asiwaju Bola Ahmed-led reconciliation committee to resolve all differences in states where there were disagreements.
While thanking the party leaders, especially the national chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for steering the APC from “success to success” since 2015 with reference to Kogi, Edo and Ondo states, he commended the feat achieved in Anambra State election.
According to him, “APC is the party of government and now the party of the Nigerian people.”
Buhari lauded the APC governors for stabilizing the country and the armed forces, police and other security agencies for stopping Boko Haram in its tracks and driving them from their bases.
According to him, no country, however well secured could prevent isolated acts of terror as was seen in United States of America, Europe, Asia and in Africa.
He said, “We cannot afford to fail to remind Nigerians where we came from in 2015. I am happy to report that slowly and steadily we have managed to stabilize the country and re-direct the ship of the state.”
While noting that the pace of government might not have fully met the high expectations of some party members, he reminded them that it took the APC two years “to dig Nigeria out of the mess.”
Buhari therefore urged members and leaders of the ruling APC to work together to ensure victory no matter the outcomes of the party primary processes ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“Soon, primaries for wards, local governments, state and centre will be due. I urge all members to take account of the fact that APC has a history of conducting free and fair primaries whenever consensus about any position is not reached.
“Regardless of the outcomes of the primary processes, it is imperative that we all work together to ensure victory for our party,” Buhari said.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the APC national chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, said 2018 was a challenging year for the party in view of the coming governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States, stressing that the party should do everything to win.
“These elections are precursors of the national elections. It is therefore necessary that we treat them with great seriousness because they are elections we should do everything to win. They are signals and signposts, indicators of what is to come in 2019. Preparations are also well underway for those elections,” he said.
