Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has disclosed that the party leadership had been saddled with challenges arising from the ward, states, and LGA congresses since coming on board.

Describing the congresses as fraudulent, Oshiomhole said the party would correct the mistakes of the past so as to effectively confront the opposition in 2019.

He revealed this while addressing members of the APC screening committee at the weekend in Abuja.

“In many of the states, we had challenges arising from the way congresses were conducted. Many of them were quite fraudulent; that has been the challenge we have been trying to resolve since we came.

“Screening of aspirants is not a formality, that is why we tried to search for men and women of integrity who cannot be compromised.

“We do not want to field opportunists who are simply seeking a political vehicle for some selfish purposes. What has happened in the recent past is enough for us to begin to look at the character of those who are seeking office on the APC platform.

“We need people who have the intellectual capacity to articulate issues on the basis on which laws and bills are considered, and those who have the capacity to carry out oversight functions to ensure that Nigerians get value for money, and to constructively engage the executive without, in the process, forgetting that there is only one government.

“If, before now we have taken for granted the powers of the National Assembly, how those powers can be used for national goals and how it can also be misused to undermine national progress, the current situation we are facing here, where two principal officers have chosen to put their personal interests over and above the national interest, refusing to consider budget meant for physical infrastructure – budget meant to re-order the way our budget is executed, to move money away from consumption, which recurrent expenditure represents, to capital projects which will benefit our people.

“And even refusing to approve money meant for the body charged with the responsibility of conducting elections in 2019. For us as a party, we have chosen to learn from the positive lessons from this development so that we do not repeat those mistakes by selecting people who, as far as human capacity is, we can assess and predict that if elected they will remain faithful not only to our party but more importantly to the Nigerian nation.

“If we have disagreement, it will not be about juicy appointment, it will be about appropriate policies, it will be about how governance is impacting positively on the lives of Nigerians. It will not be about who is getting what – politics of sharing.”

Similarly, Comrade Oshiomhole, in a statement by Simeon Ebegbulem, his CPS, reaffirmed the decision of the party to reward loyal National Assembly members with automatic tickets.

He lauded 57 senators that, he said, refused juicy inducements to dump the party.

“As we speak, I am proud that we have 57 senators who have refused to be induced or misled or otherwise manipulated into moving to other parties or reward for juicy positions. They have decided to remain in our party even with all the intimidation they have suffered.

“It will be ungodly for us as a party not to reward those who believe in the party and the government of the day led by President Muhammadu Buhari. We will try as much as we can to have stability in the National Assembly,” he said.

Oshiomhole reiterated the determination of the APC not to field candidates he described as opportunists, whose true intent was to use the platform of the party to pursue their selfish ends.

In a veiled reference to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, who recently defected to the opposition PDP, Oshiomhole said the APC had learnt valuable lessons from the mistakes of the past where people he described as bread and butter politicians were given the tickets of the party.

•Excerpted from a Daily Independent report

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