APC chairman, Adamu asks Nigerians to choose right leadership, credible elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu has said that one of the challenges that confront the success of democracy is the choice of leadership.

“The success of a democracy is multifaceted; the leadership has its roles and the followers have their roles to play” Senator Adamu stated on Thursday at the Party’s National Secretariat when he received a delegation of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy  & Development (Council of the Wise) led by its Chairperson and former President, Court of Appeal (Rtd.), Hon. Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa OFR, CFR.

The National Chairman’s stated: “We need a lot of attention to address very fundamental issues that affect the success or failure of our democratic processes.

“Ours is a developing democracy as it is a developing economy and there are certain mistakes we make so much, so often that we have no excuse if we have the right leadership to withstand them.

“The success of a democracy is multifaceted; the leadership has its roles and the followers have their roles to play. One of the challenges that confront the success of democracy is the choice of leadership. Why do leaders fail? Where do you get a leader, male or female made of outstanding character of integrity and what have you? And what level of expertise does he require to meet up with the expectations of the people and that will make him enjoy the confidence of the electorate? There must be a meeting point.

“One thing I have noticed in course of this journey is that the spotlight has been on leadership… But let us not just address the leadership only because the leadership can succeed to the extent that the followers play according to the rules of the game. We must revisit the subject of followership as a country so that we know what is the minimum standard. Why do we keep on talking about corruption and we still have it? 

“We must ensure that if we are going to make laws, we ourselves must be sure we are not offenders. For if there is no buyer there will be no seller. Each time I talk about corruption in this country, this keeps coming to my mind that the more we preach against it, the more people keep on doing that. Why?

“I want to call on your council to help us, we are today the chosen leaders of ruling party of the Federal Government of Nigeria. We want to correct as much as we can some of these weaknesses that are identifiable not only now but many of them before we came to power but we want to make the difference.”

In her remarks, the Chairperson of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy  & Development (Council of the Wise) and former President, Court of Appeal (Rtd.), Hon. Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa stated that for Nigeria to develop, there must be stable good governance, which could best be put in place through free, fair and transparent elections.

Hon. Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa stated: “Let me on behalf the Council appeal to the leadership of Party to always abide by the party’s Codes of Conduct and Constitution and to ensure internal democracy: inclusive participation, equity and fairness in the running of your Party.