Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday, said that many of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, would have been sent on compulsory retirement if either Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar or his Labour Party, LP, counterpart, Mr Peter Obi had won the February 25 presidential election.

Shehu also said that the victory of the President-elect and Vice President-elect, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, respectively and the established control of the APC in 21 out of 36 states in the last general elections, firmly established the party as a dominant national Political Party.

Speaking while receiving the Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum, AYLF, the presidential spokesman said: “‘This is a difficult reality for the opposition parties.”

A statement by Deputy Director, Information, State House, Patience Tilley-Gyado, quoted Shehu as saying, “APC victory in the election is a watershed moment for the Buhari government, its orientation, its programmes and projects.”

The statement reads: ‘‘In the hands of the opposition, many of the laudable programmes of the Buhari administration would have been sabotaged or unimplemented.

“An important and overlooked aspect of the Tinubu/Shettima victory is that it ensures, not only an orderly transfer of power from the outgoing administration to the incoming one, but also the safety of policies and programmes of the outgoing government.

‘‘For this, we remain grateful to the Almighty and to citizens of Nigeria for sticking with our Party.”

In accepting his appointment as Grand Patron of the Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum, the presidential spokesman urged members of the association to be at the vanguard of promoting the study and practice of legal profession in the northern states.

Other members of the Forum at the meeting were Mr Audu Umaru, National Welfare Director (Borno State), Mr Ahmad Khalil, National Treasurer (Yobe State) and Mr Paul Gbande, Director of Publicity (Benue State). (Vanguard)

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