President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday warned the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against imposition of candidates as electioneering activities gain steam ahead of the 2019 general elections. The President stated this during the opening ceremony of a meeting of the party’s national caucus held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“Now that INEC has come out with the timetable for elections in 2019, the party should prepare itself for congresses at the wards, local governments, states and the centre. We should strictly follow the constitution of the party in undertaking these party elections. We should ensure internal democracy and avoid shortcuts and illegal maneuvers which have characterised the opposition party with the consequences that they are now divided.
The APC has a history of conducting free and fair primaries whenever consensus about any candidacy is not reached. Regardless of the outcomes of the primary processes, it is imperative that we all work together to ensure the victory of our party.”
He thanked the leadership of the party for working relentlessly for the electoral fortune of the party in 2015 but at the Federal and State levels. He stressed that the feat was achieved because of the unity in the party.
“This unity needed now more than ever, because elections are now looming. I must state at the outset that to succeed we must in all our actions and decisions follow strictly the constitution of our party.”
He appealed to party faithful to support the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu in his assignment to reconcile feuding members of the party.
“I now turn to the party differences in various states. To this end, I have appointed a committee, headed by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a leader of the party, to reconcile differences in various states. We hope the committee will be given maximum support and cooperation to enable it to satisfactorily carry out its work and get the party united in purpose and in shape for the battles ahead,” he said.
