Paul Orude, Bauchi
Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has declared that he was willing to do anything to reconcile aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the fallout of the primaries succeeds.
He stated that he was ready to do anything for the ruling party to emerge stronger ahead of the 2019 general election.
Governor Abubakar made the pledge while receiving the Peace and Reconciliation Committee set up by the National Working Committee (NCW) of APC for the North East, led by Governor Umaru Al-makura of Nassarawa State, at Government House, Bauchi, on Monday.
The Bauchi State governor described himself as a peace-loving person who was being widely misunderstood by aggrieved members of the party, particularly those he claimed he defeated the state’s governorship primaries of the APC in 2015 and recently this year.
Said he, “After winning the 2015 primaries, I went to each of the eight constants for us to embrace peace and work as a team to move the party forward.
“I am a firm believer that power comes from God and He gives power to whoever he wants. So I went to them for us to work together and move our state forward.
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“I did the same thing in the recent primaries after my victory.”
Governor Abubakar lamented that despite all his entreaties, his co-contestants never gave him the room to bury the past saying that even one of them left APC to another political party where he emerged as a governorship candidate, saying “his heart was never with APC.”
He said to give peace a chance, he had to give prominent positions to some of those fighting him within the party , adding that despite the overtures, not all of them were still willing to stop fighting him even though his desire was to build the party and make it stronger, rather, “most of them eventually left the APC.”
He expressed gratitude to the NWC of the party for the reconciliation moves and used the courtesy visit by his counterpart and his committee call on all the prominent members of the party and all those who are aggrieved to come on board stressing that was willing to do anything to ensure that the APC succeeds.
He assured that the Governor Al-Makura-led committee would be given the necessary cooperation to also achieve its mandate.
Speaking earlier, Governor Al-Makura reminded the aggrieved members and party faithful that the committee had the mandate to build peace and reconcile all aggrieved members.
Governor Al-Makura opined that it was normal that in a scramble where many people are looking for a position, there can only emerge a winner, advising that as people who believe in God, those who lose eventually should accept that power is given by God.
The Nasarawa State governor, who was in company with other members of the committee on the courtesy call, appealed to aggrieved members who lost in the last primary elections of the APC to accept it as God’s will because of their commitment and loyalty to the party.
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He pledged that his committee would be fair and just to every aggrieved member.
He said the mandate of the committee was not to adjudicate or make serious decisions, but to identify areas of conflicts, to identify aggrieved members, to proffer political solutions acceptable to the vast majority of members and to restore confidence, commitment, trust of aggrieved members.
Al-Makura stated that the committee might make decisions when necessary, only in matters deem suitable within the mandate of the party.
He said that in view of the time contain, the committee had divided its assignment itinerary to cover Bauchi and Gombe zones, Adamawa and Taraba Zones and Borno and Yobe Zones.
The committee is currently meeting with aggrieved members from Bauchi and Gombe States at the Command Guest Inn, Bauchi, and would move to Yola to meet with aggrieved members from Adamawa and Taraba States before finally moving to Maiduguri to meet with members from Borno and Yobe States to complete its task in the north east.