President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said the All Progressives Congress, APC, would dominate the central government for more than the 16 years of the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Lawan made the declaration at the weekend in his Katuzu ward in Bade local government Area of Yobe North Senatorial, while participating in the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise of his party.
The President of the Senate who commended the Governor Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee for seizing the initiative to embark on the exercise asked the party faithful in his home state to ensure that the process was devoid of rancour and acrimony.
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The Senate President said Nigerians were happy with the landmark achievements of the APC led federal government and in states under its control said he was hopeful it would win the forthcoming governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti state and retain its grip on the federal government.
He said: “In Yobe, APC is one, and more than ninety-eight per cent are members. I want to see a situation where over ninety-eight per cent get their registration or revalidation.
“The exercise will see the party at the National and state zonal and local government levels moving forward to ensure that APC continues to dominate the political space of Nigeria.
“We have elections this year in Anambra, and by the grace of God, APC will win that election. We have gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun – these are states that are APC – and we will continue to keep them.
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“But in 2023, by the Grace of God, APC should win more National Assembly, Gubernatorial seats. APC should continue to dominate the Presidency, and we are not asking for 16 years.
“We want to do things that will make Nigerians to continue to trust the APC; to continue identify with our government and presidency because we mean well and will continue to do well for Nigeria.”
He said at the end of the revalidation exercise, the membership strength of the APC would have reached over one hundred million.”
Lending his voice to the exercise as against the criticisms trailing it from certain quarters, the Senate President submitted that the exercise became imperative in view of the need to weed out members of the APC who had defected to other political parties but were still recorded in the party’s register. He further noted that it would afford new or intending members the opportunity to get registered.
“The youths, who will be the majority of those that would register, will now have a very critical role to play in the politics of APC and the democratic process of Nigeria.
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“I also want to say that this exercise is essential because we have names of people who have decamped to other political parties and yet their names are in the register of APC.
“We cannot continue to carry the names of people who have shifted ground. And, essentially, democracy is about the people to take and make decisions on behalf of themselves.
“This is about taking the party to the grassroots. As Mr. President said in Daura, the party should be built from bottom up.
“The people at the grassroots should have the party, so that when it is time for them to make decisions on whom they should vote for in congresses, they should take that decision.
“When it is time for them to decide who should run for any political office, it should be their decision. So, this is further democratizing the APC.
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“And, I believe that this exercise is one that the APC should approach very positively. We should not register nothing less than a hundred million Nigerians. And we have every chance and every reason to register more than one hundred million Nigerians in this exercise.”
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