By Cyril Okonkwo, Ikenne
Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has revalidated his membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as he flagged off the party’s registration and revalidation exercise at Ikenne Ward One, Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State.
Speaking after revalidating his membership, Osinbajo said that the exercise would take the APC membership to the grassroots and enable the people to participate in the policies and programmes of the party.
“This registration and revalidation is important because it offers us an opportunity to have a credible roll of our members such that we are able to reach our members from the polling booth level all the way to the wards, local governments and federal constituencies.
“Why do we want to reach our people? The people are the party and the party is the people. There is no party without the people. That is why we must reach them.
“Ours, the APC, is the grassroots party; a party of the people. Our focus is on the welfare, prosperity and the well-being of the people.
“Party members must understand their importance in the scheme of things. They must fully understand the party’s philosophy and programmes,” the Vice President explained.
Osinbajo noted that Ikenne was also the hometown of the late sage, Chief Obefemi Awolowo, whom he described as “ the father and progenitor of the great movement that we call the progressives movement” in Nigeria.
He said, “It is on the broad shoulder of the social democratic philosophy of the maximum happiness and well-being of all the people that we in our great party the APC stand firmly and confidently today.
“And so we must situate this registration and re-validation exercise in that ideological context.”
Surmountable challenges
Professor Osinbajo, said that Nigeria was facing the most challenging times in its history, which has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He expressed hope that they are surmountable with deliberate policies and programmes of the APC government.
“The corona virus, the Covid-19 pandemic has made matters worse and we have also had, as you know, security challenges that have stretched our law enforcement capacities all over the country. But we remain the best party, the best people to solve these problems.
“ Let us not be in any doubt about that, because of our grassroots orientation, we continue to have and put in place the best programmes for the welfare of our people.
“Our focus on job for our people is a resolute commitment of our party. Aside from the micro credit schemes that we are putting in place, the Payroll Support Programme the N-Power, and now 774, 000 jobs programme, 1000 in every local government.
“We also have a mass housing scheme, where we hope that every Nigerian that can pay 8,000 to 10, 000 a month can own a home of his own; a mass agricultural scheme, solar systems installed in 5million homes; all of these things are policies and programs of a progressive party.
“ You may not immediately see the effects, but you can be sure that everyday and every night the thinking of the leadership of the APC and the thinking of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is, how can we make life better for the citizens of this country,“ he said.
Solutions to security challenges
The Vice President listed four ways through which the security challenges in Nigeria at present could be tackled.
These, according to him, include ensuring the prosecution of all those who have been arrested for kidnapping, banditry and all criminal activities in Nigeria; the appointment of the new service chiefs who would bring “a fresh set of eyes, intellect and skills and a fresh look at strategies in the north east as well as against banditry and kidnapping elsewhere;” and community policing.
“The fourth is that we must resist any attempt to destroy the unity of our country. Our people have lived together for decades, even for centuries.
“While we must attend to the cries of communities and the cries of our people for justice, for equity, for fairness, we can do so within this same union.
“We can address the questions of justice, the questions of equity, the questions of balance, fairness within this union. Ultimately, we are stronger together than apart,” he explained.
Vice President Osinbajo was accompanied to Ikenne by governors Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Sani Bello of Niger State, who is also the Chairman of the APC National Registration/Revalidation Committee, former Governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba; Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babefemi Ojodu, the Team Leader, APC Revalidation Committee, South West, Senator Lawan Shuaibu, among others.
The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun said that the registration and revalidation exercise would increase the chances of the APC to win future elections.
The Team Leader, APC Revalidation Committee, South West, Senator Lawan Shuaibu, saw the exercise as the effort of the party to build membership from the base.
Niger State Governor, Sani Bello said that the last membership registration of the APC was in 2014, requiring that those who recently joined the party should be registered as members.
Confidence Okwuchi
