The achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari “would have been sabotaged” had Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi been declared president-elect in the February 25 presidential election, says his media aide Garba Shehu.
APC victory in the election is a watershed moment for the Buhari government, its orientation, its programmes and projects. In the hands of the opposition, many of the laudable programmes of the Buhari administration would have been sabotaged or unimplemented,” the president’s spokesman said while receiving members of the Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum (AYLF), the umbrella body for young lawyers in the North, on Thursday in Abuja.”
Mr Garba added, “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.”
According to him, the victory of President-elect Bola Tinubu and Vice-President-elect Kashim Shettima, and APC’s control of 21 out of 36 states, had firmly established the party as a dominant national political party.
“This is a difficult reality for the opposition parties,” Mr Garba explained.
Mr Shehu said the opposition’s victory in the general election would not only have been a career-ending moment for many APC leaders but would also have had negative consequences for the various programmes of the Buhari administration.
He noted that these programmes empowered marginalised groups and remedied much of the nation’s infrastructure deficit.
In accepting his appointment as grand patron of the group, the presidential aide urged members of the association to be at the vanguard of promoting the study and practice of the legal profession in the northern states.
The chairman of AYLF, Olayinka Jimoh, craved the support of the Presidency in giving strategic training to young wigs to enhance their leadership roles in society.
(NAN)
