Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the governing All Progressives Congress remain committed to the welfare of the common man, because it is a party of the people and will continually ensure that the common man benefits maximally from the government.
Osinbajo spoke on Friday when he received a delegation of the APC Professionals Forum, who paid him a courtesy call, at the State House, Abuja.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday titled, ‘Why APC is focused on the common man’s welfare, by Osinbajo’.
“This is a party of the common man, a party of the people, a party that takes as its cradle the importance of ensuring that the common man benefits maximally from the government, which is why we have the big programmes like the Social Investment Programme, the largest if its kind in the continent, and several of such other programmes that emphasize how serious we take the lot of the common man,” the Vice-President was quoted to have said.
Though formed about nine years ago, Osinbajo noted that the party had made an impact and was determined to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.
“We are the ruling party in Africa’s largest democracy, which by itself is a phenomenal achievement for such a young party. But you’ll find that in the particular ideological direction of our party, it’s one that was clear to the founders of the party, the initial persons and groups that came together to form the party and they came from different parties. Still, it was to present a left of centre, a social democratic alternative to the then ruling party,” he stated.
Osinbajo further stated that the APC was determined to ensure the country’s further growth and development.
To the visiting delegation, he said, “It is the role of this professional forum must take on itself. And what it entails aside from that logical objective of the forum; what it entails is defining in writing in various ways what our party stands for.
“There are many people that say, well, we have not done this, we have not done that. There are so many ways of looking at it, but the truth of the matter is that the party was committed and is seen across the country as a party of the common man, which is why I think the role of the professionals’ forum is particularly important, because we are trying to shape the ideology of the party.
“If the professionals cannot do that, then our party becomes all comers; anything goes so long as we have a platform to run for political office. But I think that we, especially professionals, have a unique advantage.”
Osinbajo expressed hope that the forum, made up of professional elites, would be of great benefit to the party and Nigeria, because of its leadership and quality of professionals on its board of trustees and as members, who he noted “are not just politicians, but people who have distinguished themselves” in their respective fields.
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