From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
An elite group under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness & Campaign, has stated that changing Nigeria for the better will require President Muhammadu Buhari taking hard decisions.
The group in a statement signed by the quartets of APC chieftains, Barr. Ismail Ahmed, Lanre Issa-Onilu, Tolu Ogunlesi and Salihu Moh. Lukman, argued that the achievements recorded by the Buhari-led government were unreported.
They insisted that in comparative terms, President Buhari-led government recorded more achievements within six years than all the previous governments under the PDP between 1999 and 2015.
Admitting that though there are teething challenges within the party, the group argued that the party has however been undergoing a deep-rooted rebuilding and re-positioning process.
It further noted that unlike other parties controlled by godfathers who are in denial of their internal challenges, APC belongs to members who are ordinary Nigerians, adding that the leaders have no option but to ensure that expectations of Nigerians are fully met.
“Our country, Nigeria, like every country in the world, is faced with difficult problems. These are not problems created by our party and its leadership. If anything, through all the initiatives being implemented by the APC federal government, our party under the leadership of President Buhari has demonstrated unrivalled boldness and commitment to solve these longstanding issues and to move Nigeria forward.
“As loyal party members, under the APC Legacy Awareness & Campaign, we will showcase the national and sub-national achievements of our party with facts and empirical evidence, on weekly basis.
“We will be objective and support our leaders with all the necessary recommendations, so as to ensure that our party is able to achieve the goal of changing Nigeria for the better in line with the slogan of the party.
“Changing Nigeria for the better require hard decisions, which are the focus of all our governments’ initiatives under the leadership of President Buhari. We will showcase these initiatives and achievements!” the APC group noted in the statement.
The group further noted that; “as committed members of the APC, we are convinced that since May 29, 2015, when the government of President Buhari was inaugurated, landmark initiatives have been and are being implemented.
“In comparative terms, President Buhari-led government has recorded more achievements within six years than all the previous governments under the PDP between 1999 and 2015.
“We intend to present these achievements with facts and empirical evidence. On weekly basis, we will invite Nigerians to engage the issues based on specific highlights of work being executed. In particular, we will invite all committed party members to participate in the campaign.
“We will also invite opposition parties, especially the PDP to engage the issues by presenting especially what they comparatively were able to achieve when they were in power or in states where they control.
“This campaign has become necessary to prevent a situation whereby political entrepreneurs would take advantage of current challenges in the country to mislead Nigerians into believing that APC and President Buhari-led government has failed.
“No doubt there are challenges, which both the federal government and all our leaders in the party are working hard to resolve. As a group, we will do all we can to support our leaders to succeed in resolving all our national challenges.
“Nigerians have every reason to expect that governments, at all levels, must efficiently and effectively resolve all challenges. But no politician or political party should be allowed to take undue advantage of the legitimate aspirations of Nigerians for responsive and representative government,” the statement read.
Reacting further, the group wrote: “With all the challenges in the country, APC is the only party that is working to address them. Our leaders are not in denial and are responding to the challenges. Our party, APC, is the only party in the country whose leadership has acknowledged its internal problems and have initiated processes of resolving its internal problems.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Buhari, APC has been undergoing a deep-rooted rebuilding and re-positioning process. A new leadership will emerge at the end of this process. Unlike other parties controlled by godfathers who are in denial of their internal challenges, APC belongs to members who are ordinary Nigerians, and our leaders have no option but to ensure that expectations of Nigerians are fully met,” thestatement read.