Senate President Ahmad Lawan has warned that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would face immense crisis after President Muhammadu Buhari exits the scene, while calling for urgent measures to reposition it ahead of the 2023 elections.
He said the president served as the unifying force that held the party together, adding that unless the party takes decisive action now and builds its structure around the youth, it would lose it’s nationalistic outlook.
In a statement by his Special Assistant (Press), Ezrel Tabiowo, Lawan said stakeholders should entrust the party to competent youth who would continue to sustain the goodwill and legacies of the current administration beyond 2023.
“Whether we like it or not, the truth is, President Muhammadu Buhari remains the person with the bulk of the support we get across this country in APC.
“[And] when he leaves, he would still have some roles, but I dare say that it is after he leaves office that APC will face its challenge.
“Yes, we have to know our value then, and the value of APC presently is APC minus President Muhammadu Buhari. Whatever it is, that is the value of APC.
“So, we need to do a lot to build this party, and we need our youths more than ever before for them to continue with this legacy that this administration has established all over the country,” he noted.
Lawan said the party couldn’t meet it’s obligations to Nigerians during its first tenure as a result of the feud between the legislature and executive, adding that the disruption greatly affected the good will the party enjoined.
“When we were voted in 2019 as leaders of the National Assembly, we were conscious of one thing, that our mandate that was given to us by Nigerians in 2015 had suffered disruption and dislocation.
“For four years (2015 to 2019), our government could not perform optimally because of the then crisis between the parliament – the National Assembly – and the Executive arm of government.
“So, APC had already lost four very important years. And, that was supposed to be the years that we should have convinced Nigerians that they took the right decision by voting out a PDP administration in 2015,” he noted.
He said the onus is on stakeholders at the state and federal level to utilise what is left of the party’s tenure by consolidating on the gains so far recorded.
