APC Crisis: Tinubu committee long overdue – Senate Leader

The Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North), has said the setting up of the reconciliation committee for the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is headed by the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu, is long overdue.

He made this statement at the Presidential Villa mosque on Friday while explaining that ”time was against the party and that the reconciliation process had to begin immediately.”

President Muhammadu Buhari recently named Mr. Tinubu to lead the charge for “a united APC as 2019 election draws near.”

The party which had previously raised committees to resolve the crises across its state chapters appears to have settled on Mr. Tinubu to resolve the matter.

Mr. Buhari had charged Mr. Tinubu with the responsibility of leading consultation, reconciliation and confidence building efforts as part of efforts towards improving cohesion within the APC.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has also criticised the president’s action, describing him (Mr. Buhari) as a ‘bad product’.

The PDP also noted that Mr. Buhari cannot win the 2019 presidential polls despite nominating Mr. Tinubu as head strategy committee of the party.

It added that after almost three years of failure to deliver on the ‘littlest of its campaign promises’, the Buhari presidency is now “moving around, cap in hands,” looking for those to use once again to beguile Nigerians ahead of the 2019 elections.

Mr. Lawan, however, went ahead to describe the constitution of the committee as fantastic.

“In fact, that committee should have been constituted long time ago because APC is plagued by some internal issues, and I believe that these are issues that are surmountable. The Tinubu committee will definitely add value into reconciling the warring sides, so to speak.

“Time is against us. We have to really kick start this process of reconciliation immediately, and I believe that as a family, we should be able to come out very much much united that we were before,” he said.

While supporting the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s suggestion on state policing as a solution to insecurity, the Senate Leader said that the Senate adhoc Committee on Review of Security Infrastructure in Nigeria would “take it on board in the National Assembly”, adding that the national security summit the Senate held on Thursday was successful because of the synergy between the legislature and the executive.

He further urged Nigerians to be positive in their thoughts as he expressed optimism that the executive would consider and implement the Senate’s resolutions on the summit.

“We should be positive and think in a very positive manner, we should be able to solve our problems. If we cannot solve the problems, why did we even venture into it?

“I’m an optimistic person and I believe that coming together, the executive and the legislature, we can solve any problem in Nigeria if we have the support of Nigerians.

“It is not only those of us in government that are supposed to do everything to solve challenges, but we need the continuous and relentless support of citizens to ensure that we are able to provide the kind of solutions we need”, he said.