By Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku
'If you respect your leader, he shall be respected by all. Disrespect him at your peril. Not his.'
The Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been taunted as the most powerful Office in the world. When you now have a charismatic leader occupying that exalted seat, its prestige becomes doubly overwhelming. This is what you quickly see unfolding in Nigeria. Tinubu has a personality and credential that will make him a President who will be highly respected. His leadership charisma, credentials and track records overwhelms the party, system and citizens to the point of awe. This is critical for loyalty of the Citizens, the party, the Armed Forces, Foreign policy strategic wins and government policy implementations. It is a fact that determines success of a President or otherwise.
The President -Elect has moved quickly to make his favoured zone and candidate for Senate President and Speaker known. The Party leadership has expedited action to consolidate that position by officially making a pronouncement on the zoning arrangement of the party. It is Akpabio for Senate President and Tajudeen for Speaker. It is what it is. We must now heal and quickly move on to settle in for real governance and delivery of the promises of our President-Elect to the Citizens. He has consistently told us all that governance is but a very serious business. The business nature of his government in the making is already obvious and palpable. He is revving to go. That is Tinubu for us all.
It is time for all divergent interests to now align and trust the valuable judgement of H.E Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We do not have a choice in the matter anymore. We must be focused and project that to win the confidence of all Nigerians as the transition period leads us to 29th May inauguration.
It is a democracy, and fundamentally, political contestations of ideas and positions remain a critical core of that system of government. While you may have the right to contest any canversed idea and position within our party, it is only logical that we allow the broader interests and logic of our President-Elect and other party organs guide us. This is equally democratic as it prevents entrenched interests and positions that may have the potential to derail us as a party and government from festering.
Across the divides, the Senate and House of Representatives have paraded multiply interested persons who have shown intent to contest. Some of them have still maintained their position to contest, inspite the position of our President-Elect and that of our Party. This too is democratic. But we must look inwards as loyal party fateful now, to rally round our incoming President and give his judgement, decisions and actions the critical support and trust the nation and citizens expect to see. It starts with us as members of the ruling party to project a united front behind the Jagaban of Nigeria. It must be seen from the outset.
We must not go in the direction of the ill-fated 2015 Saraki-Dogara sordid episode where, against acclaimed Presidential and Party directives, selfish interests overrode party interest (this doubles as national interest), which led into the formation of unholy alliances with the opposition to steal and share our Senate President snd Deputy with the PDP, while equally sharing highly sensitive and juicy Committee appointments with them in both Chambers. This is documented to have been the reason for the lack of performance to highest expectations of the first term of President Buhari. We must not allow this to repeat itself again. Not under the watch of Tinubu and Abdullahi Adamu. We must move speedily now.
Last night, after the announcement on zoning of the National Assembly Leadership was done, we saw images of Senators and Members of House of Representatives who still seemed resolute to contest against the entrenched position of our President-Elect and NWC. We advice they reconsider their position and take the honourable path.
While they must be persuaded by all to encourage them to align with the President -Elect and Party position, we must quickly reach out to them, especially by H.E Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to assure them all that their interests and that of their zones and people will be surely protected and projected. They must as usual, see the sincerity of purpose always demonstrated by Mr President-Elect as enough a reason to trust his value judgement to drop their adamant positions to heed his counsel. We must be a party that abides by our leader and incoming President. The party organs must equally set out in motion to assuage the feelings of those left out and find ways to create an all-inclusive atmosphere that favours reconciliation and foster party unity, especially taking into accounts, the dynamics of our simple majority and the challenge of the critical minorities that have now emerged in the 10th National Assembly. We cannot take anything for granted.
The coming days will be one where our party will be tested. How we are able to navigate that will be another testament to the political gamesmanship of our President-Elect, and a challenge to the pacifist credentials of our party National Chairman and leaders. All hands must be on deck to see us through these landmines.
May Tinubu succeed. Amin.
Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku
Member APC PCC 2023, ICC and National Coordinator writes from Abuja.
asipitamuluku25@g.mail.com
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