Edo APC chairman swears in party local government chairmen, tasks them on reconciliation

WITH a charge to reconcile all the feuding factions following the recent acrimonious congresses, Mr. Anslem Ojezua, the Edo state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday in Benin swore in the party chairmen for the 18 local government council of the state.

Ojezua advised the new chairmen to be fair and just in the discharge of their duties as it is the only way to sustain the party’s unity, noting that in the run-up to the 2019 election, they should strive to carry everybody along as the party was determined to put the bad blood generated by the congresses behind.

He said: “You will have issues with our processes but should learn to confront them through persuasion and negotiation instead of resulting to malice. If you do justice, you will succeed but if not, you will be the first casualty. Reconciliation should be our priority. Our leaders are in a better position to reconcile the aggrieved members.”

While cautioning against altering the leadership list handed over to them, Ojezua urged them the new local council party chairmen to always abide by the constitution of the party.

“You will notice that from the beginning of this process we have not deviated from the constitution. Arguably, Edo state is the only state where we don’t have one issue from the ward executive constitutions right down to the state congress and this is because we have the right leadership, who took the right decisions and adopted the right processes to get the right result.”

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Ojezua said that the party must build on the unity in Edo state and demonstrate that if it worked in the state, it will also work for Nigeria.

He noted that the party was backing the national chairmanship aspiration of the former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as he designed the Edo model and led to it to fruition.

Amidst a thunderous applause, he declared: “Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole is the man we are hoping to donate to Nigeria to do for Nigeria what he did for Edo state. That legacy is what we have a duty to build upon. For the fact that we don’t have issues with our processes does not mean we don’t have issues with our politics.”

On the list of party executives for the wards and units, Ojezua said that the list that was handed over to them is not subject to alteration or fresh negotiation, as it had been monitored and approved by the delegations sent from the national headquarters and archives of the party.

He said: “The unit and leaders that you will inaugurate are expected to be men of utility, it s about how much they can bring into the party to ensure that our party is successful that is what will make you give them those positions because going forward, we want to give serious approach to party organisation and mobilisation it is done thing to seek power, it is another thing to sustain it especially when we are going to be having serious issues of governance at a point after election, the issues of governance takes over, we must be mindful of the party manifesto and each government is expected to work to achieve the manifestoes.”

The Edo party chairman said that the party was making arrangement to ensure that the party constitution and manifestoes were made available for everybody to study and digest.

He emphasized: “The manifestos and constitution are not for cosmetic purposes. They are to be taken seriously and we will work to ensure it works. If we do so, there is no way we will not succeed.”