Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Ahead of February 26 national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Victor Lar has said that the former governor of Borno State Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff is the best candidate to be given the number one seat of the party.
Lar who spoke in a phone interview with Journalists on Sunday said that Sheriff’s vast experience in politics as a Chief Executive, Legislator and party leader has placed him in a vantage position to prepare the party for the unique challenges ahead of the 2023 elections.
“The APC will face a perculier challenge in 2023 because President Muhammadu Buhari who is known to have galvanized over 12 million votes consistently will not be on the ballot.
“This will create a serious challenge whereby the party will need to navigate very carefully so as to succeed, he said.
According to Lar, this would require a leader who would be able to mobilize all contending interests within the party to ensure that APC wins the election in 2023.
“So the main thing driving Sheriff to gun for the seat of the National Chairman of our great party is to make sure that he leads the party to victory in 2023 and ensure that President Buhari hands over to another APC President.
“For over forty years, Sheriff has gathered experience that is unmatched. He was elected three times to the National Assembly. In fact he was a Deputy Minority leader in the Senate. And so he understands the sensibility and the thinking of the legislators.
Apart from being a governor for two terms, it is on record that he is one of the very few governors who handed over N69billion to an incoming administration, Lar said.
Lar further explained that besides the breathtaking infrastructural development he brought to Borno state, Sheriff has experience as a leader of a political party.
“So we are talking about someone with experience as a legislator, as a Chief Executive of a state, and a courageous person that has the capacity to provide the needed leadership”, he observed.
Lar who represented Plateau South Senatorial District between 2011 and 2015, identified four blocks of a political party including the presidency, the governors, the national assembly and party leadership, said Sen. Sheriff the experience and is in a better position to understand the intricacies of harmonizing all these interests and blocks to lead the party to victory.
He insisted that for the party to stand the test of time and remain strong enough to not only retain power but continue to enjoy acceptability from the people, there was need for massive innovations which Sheriff has drawn up to bring on board to ensure party supremacy, unity, more efficient running of the Institution.
“He will want to introduce and ensure party supremacy such that the party manifestoe and operational philosophy will guide the actions of members.
“Why do I say so? Right now you will find out that some of those who are appointed Ministers do not even know the party officials in their wards.
“They don’t even know the party manifestoes or state officials and are only nominated by some powerful blocks somewhere and appointed as Ministers”, he said.
The APC stalwart explained that one of the major global issues is that the process of recruitment for presentation at elections has to be democratized in order to carry along all party members.
“By that I mean we would recruit the best hands at every level. That is the only way we would maintain our victory at the National Assembly and the Executive.
“Above all, since our greatest strength lies in our unity, Sheriff will put in place a mechanism that will build on the work of this caretaker committee to ensure the reconciliation of all person and interests in the party”, he stressed.
Lar who observed that consensus and conflict were a driving force of politics, explained that there was nothing new that there is crisis but that the process of reconciliation was what showed the growth and maturity of the party.
“All these processes will be put in place by Sheriff under his watch as the Chairman, ” Lar said.