APC chairman reveals plans to organise national conference next month

He made the disclosure on Tuesday when the forum of APC professionals paid him a courtesy visit at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.

The ruling party Chairman however used the opportunity to lament the vulnerability of the party at the grassroots. He frowned at the deliberate misrepresentation of the ruling party in a negative image by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties.

The former Nasarawa State governor also explained that the national conference will enable stakeholders look at what is happening in the country, and the party, particularly the manifesto used to elect leaders.

“One thing I find extremely important to say is that we are on the verge of collaborating with our presidential candidate,  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to work as a party with our manifesto. Every election has something peculiar in its campaigns on issues to be addressed.

“Some of the issues have remained the same over time with little differences that we can always compare and contrast to see where we have positive and negative scores.

“However, whatever it is, if we genuinely want to develop a manifesto, the experiences you have gathered over time, will be a strong guide. We therefore hope and pray that whenever we call on you to have a share of your expertise, you will not hesitate to volunteer to give the best you can.

“I want to inform you that we are planning something that is very new. This party has not organised anything called a national conference. In developed countries, every party, whether ruling party or not, organises a national conference where the major and minor stakeholders have a get-together forum to look at what is happening to the country, the party, particularly the manifesto that the people use to get elected.

“We have not seen this happening here and we want to ensure that we get on that track between now to when the campaign will kick off by October. We want to be sure we had that national conference. When that opportunity comes, those of you who are able and can find the time, get ready to honour our invitation,” he appealed.

Lamenting the vulnerability of the party in the grassroots, Adamu said: “One thing I want to make reference to is the fact that political activities in this country we should take seriously and where we may need your assistance is to drive activities of the party at the grassroots.

“For now, our political activities are driven by unenlightened members. And because of that, the followership of the party at that level is extremely very vulnerable to manipulations. So, we need to imbibe a culture of enlightenment by enlightened membership driven by knowledgeable members that may not necessarily be graduates, diploma holders, but they must be an open enlightened minds.

“This is missing in our efforts to get people to appreciate who we are  and what we do as a party. We have a misfortune of the efforts of this government not reaching the grassroots to show sufficient positive publicity on what this government is doing.

“All that those that care to talk is the negative aspect this government. We appreciate the fact that the opposition is the underdog, there is always apparent sympathy for them. I have no quarrel with that, but they must call a spade by its name. Don’t give a dog bad name just to hang it. This is what we are experiencing.

“All the good things that have happened in this administration has not received the kind of commendation they deserve. See the social investment programme for market women, farmers, and other critical programmes that were not undertaken in the 16 years of PDP government. We are doing all that but nobody appreciates or praises the APC government. All that we get is criticism.

“It makes us stand up but too much of one thing is not good, no matter how good it is. We need to come together and criticise constructively for the improvement of the country. We must make the people we are governing stand up and see what is good and what is bad. I believe that forum of professional like this can go a long way in getting us out of the woods by looking at the government, talk to authority to understand that you are talking from the point of view of authority, the truth and nothing but the truth. But when you keep being teleguided by misinformation and disinformation it does work,” he charged.

Speaking further, he said that: “no government wants to deliberately unleash weakedness on people. Everyone who seeks the mandate of the people and gets it, his or her intentions is to make things better and improve on the good of the majority of the people.

“If we get ourselves into positive reporting of what is happening, the electorate will not be indifference. They know what is the truth but unfortunately, in propaganda, when a bad thing keep repeating itself everyday, it gains the place of the truth. We need to do better in media management as a party, and government,” he enjoined the party members.