From Cyril Mbah, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC), National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda has made a solemn pledge to transform the party by making it stronger and upgrading the platform into a state where it will become the first choice of all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, state or religion.
Prof. Yilwatda promised to leverage on and use established party structures, including the Progressives Governor’s Forum, and grassroots politicians to ensure that every obstacle that may hinder the growth of the party into a viable national establishment or institution are removed during his tenure as national chairman.
Yilwatda made this pledge on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen soon after inspecting the APC ICT Data Centre under construction within the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja accompanied by the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Onwa Hope Uzodinma, who doubles as Imo State Governor, the Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo and members of the APC National Working Committee [NWC].
Yilwatda said everything that will make the APC unattractive to the people will be removed and when asked what he expects in terms of the relationship between him and the PGF, he said.
“You can see that it is very cordial. Very much so, we are exemplary. When it comes to APC, we are exemplary and you can see it in the way we conduct ourselves in the NEC, you can see how the governors are relating with the party. You can see how the members are relating with the party, how we have made this party attractive to the people, attractive to the nation and also attractive to the governors.
“So, we are deepening our relationship every day and with this illustration, we are a leading party by far compared to any other political party and we want to ensure that we deepen technology, and ensure that we lead in all respects, in all ramifications and like you know, technology is one aspect that we are pursuing. So, that we are leading also in that same respect, ensuring that we know the number of people that are part of our own political party.
“We can actually know people who are going to vote for us. We can predict the number of people that are supporting us and deepen our base also in each state. This is what we are doing, and it will help us in research, it will help us in deepening technology, it will help our relationship in providing support for our members also at all levels,” the national chairman said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Chief Hope Uzodinma told the newsmen that the governors were at the party secretariat to see how to help improve on the facilities available.
“We are here on a working visit. We came to monitor and evaluate the extent of the e-registration exercise and what has been done and we have inspected and conducted a trip round the facilities and we are highly impressed with what we saw and also confident that any moment from now our e-registration exercise will start in full force.
Commenting on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directives that the APC should be mived to a new National Secretariat, Uzodinma said, “It is still work in progress. We are working,” and he expressed the hope that with the new national chairman, whom he described as a “handsome, tall man, full of energy and intelligence. I think in our party, we are very excited and happy with the choice of our new National Chairman and we are confident that this is what we are looking for to move ahead.”
On the claim of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that Nigerians would face further disastrous period by allowing the APC to form another government, after the next election, Uzodinma said,
“You called it a claim. It is their (ADC) claim, it is not our claim. I know that there are only two parties in Nigeria, and these are the All Progressives Congress and others,” he concluded.
Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo said briefly that the governors and the party are working together as a team.
“We are working as a team under the leadership of Mr. President, and as such the Chairman of the PGF who has spoken, has spoken our minds,” Ododo said.