A chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 26 national convention, Saliu Mustapha, says he will be a bridge-builder amongst the youths, women, and the aged, in a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, monitored by DAVID LAWANI
What will you do differently as chairman of the party? What are you bringing on board?
Don’t forget that I keep on saying that we have gotten to a stage in the growth of this country or the political evolvement of this country.
The younger ones are yearning for more participation. It has never been like this before. The women group is also yearning for participation. You need somebody who is a bridge-builder, which I think I represent. I have made it a direct campaign policy if given the opportunity, this will be the first time in Nigeria that a political party is making sure the party operates like an institution.
How did you find it in CPC before the merger and the leadership then?
I will not shy away from responsibility. Two, I will think about a style of leadership we used in the days of the CPC whereby every week we had a management meeting.
We never waited for things to pile up. We were so proactive. Every week we dissect state by state and find out what are the problems there. Not to just wait behind and wait for nothing.
Is APC ready for the sustainability of internal democracy?
Let me also help you, if you are looking for party supremacy, the first thing you put in place is to ensure internal democracy. Once you ensure internal democracy, you give people a sense of belonging. Let them know that they are part and parcel of whatever is happening at the party.
People think consultation is a sign of weakness, no. It’s a strength. When you consult regularly, you give people a sense of belonging. By that, we would have removed a one-man show. There will no more be, here I decide for everybody.
If the president asked you to step down, would you?
I have been with him since 2002 when he came into politics. We began as The Buhari Organization, I was part of it till this day. When he lost the elections, he fought his way up to Supreme Court. So, I don’t think President Buhari would deviate from the democrat he is to want to be authoritative to be dictating for everybody. For me, I have not been informed officially.
How about the endorsement of Adamu?
For me, I have the spirit of sportsmanship. If others believe they can drop his name to win this game. I believe if the president has a candidate, he or they would have informed us by now. Nobody has informed me officially, that was why I was the first person to pick the form and I have submitted my form.
Others have equally submitted theirs. Like I told you earlier, we have been on this campaign trail for over a year. Almost two years now. So, I think it will not be wise for anybody to just wake up overnight and decide to dictate for us. If this is what they want they should have long before now narrowed it down.
Do want consensus or go to the arena and fight it out?
I will say we should allow reasoning now, reasoning in the sense that what are the chances and possibilities of winning our election. Let’s look at the things we have on the ground.
Let’s permutate and look at the best choice. What are the criteria, don’t forget we have been campaigning not just to APC people. For the larger elections, we will be facing the Nigerian crowd.
