The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, has said the innovation being made to the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, including the building of a church on the premises, is for the progress of the party and the nation.
The PUNCH reports that religion is often a factor in the Nigerian political landscape where politicians exploit it to garner votes.
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC generated heated debates, with the opposition saying the ruling party planned to Islamise the country.
Speaking on Thursday during a visit to the party’s national secretariat being remodeled, Ganduje said, “The innovations are for the progress of the party and the nation. Before, there was no church, nobody went to church on the premises; but now, we have a new church. We have shops to avoid street hawking around the building. And we have concrete drainage.
“The media centre in terms of its outlook and equipment, I have not seen any symbol of modern gadgets. We are not in an analogue period. But, I think what I have seen here is analogue. But, our media people are not analogue. So, let us see the media centre as a digital platform.”
APC national chairman vowed to work round the clock to ensure that the ruling party gets more governorship and legislative seats both at the state and national levels.
Coming up in February are reruns and by-elections to fill existing vacancies in the state and federal legislatures.
Also, coming up later this year are governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.
Ganduje said “Our blueprint is to increase the number of legislators that we have in the country; the number of governors that we have in the country and by implication the number of state Houses of Assembly. That is why we said APC will be active throughout the year.
“In our tradition, usually political parties as institutions are only active during the electioneering. But in developed democracies, political parties as an institution are active because they are not only limited to election and recruitment of membership. It is a two-way traffic. It gives the progress of the government to the people and also gives recommendations on its manifestos. That is how the government is assessed. That is how Renewed Hope will be achieved.”
Meanwhile, the sale of APC nomination and expression of interest forms to members aspiring to the Edo governorship seat that commenced yesterday is still ongoing.
The PUNCH gathered that a former Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, was the first APC aspirant from Edo to pick the forms at the party’s national secretariat.
Henry Idahagbon, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Edo, picked the forms on behalf of Agba.
According to a schedule of activities for the Edo governorship election released by the APC, the sale of Nomination and Expression of Interest and Delegates Forms will end on 29 January.
The party is scheduled to elect its governorship candidate at a primary election to be held on 17 February.
