It is with profound pleasure that I welcome you all to this occasion organized to mark my first year in office, as the State Chairman of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).I thank and give glory to Almighty God for being our guide and my humble self in particular, and all my colleagues in the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party. We are very appreciative of His divine support throughout the eventful year. Let me also express my gratitude to His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, the State Governor, and Leader of the party, for his immeasurable support and assistance at every point in this one year of my tenue. Also, to all the key stakeholders of the party, and teeming supporters, I wish to say thank you for your cooperation.It is only appropriate that I should use this opportunity to acknowledge members of the Press for their regular reports on our activities. Thank you all for the positive reportage which has made the APC a household name in Nasarawa State. I commend you for being satisfactorily professional in your conduct as members of Fourth Estate of The Realm. You may recall that on assumption of office one year ago, we set ourselves the task of reconciling aggrieved members considering the grudges that greeted the party's primaries preceding the last general elections. I am happy to inform you that our efforts have been very successful. Today the party is more united and stronger. Most of the aggrieved members have come to understand that what happened during the primaries was not meant to hurt anyone. I am happy to report that all the erstwhile aggrieved members have put behind them the results of the primaries. Almost all have returned to the fold of the party, we are now working together to build and make the APC more formidable. Indeed, we have not only reunited the party, but have moved a step further to woo well known political heavy weights from other parties into our party.
Today the likes of H.E, Senator Solomon Ewuga, Hon. Isimbabi Garba Mohammed a serving member in the State House of Assembly, Aliyu Safiyanu (Mai Zuma), a onetime House of Representatives candidate of the SDP, have all left their respective parties and joined our great party. In order to demonstrate the uniqueness of the APC,
I have also together with my colleagues in the SWC promoted an inclusive environment which ensured participation of diverse people in the activities of the party. In other words, we have succeeded, in the past one year, to entrench the image of the APC as a truly democratic party that is just and fair to all. To demonstrate this, the SWC under my leadership has in the past one year initiated and implemented empowerment policy that saw a number of youths and women of the party being appointed as Special Assistants. This has helped to promote inclusiveness of all groups within the party. The policy has equally allowed for the mentorship of appointees who could become leaders of the party and the state in the future. More so,
I have led the SWC to promote and establish strategic partnership with stakeholders of the party, as well as with technocrats within and outside of the State. This has helped considerably to enhance the party's influence and reputation.
It is therefore not surprising that our party comfortably and convincingly won the rerun election of the State House of Assembly in Agaza Ward of Keana Constituency. Surely the victory is a clear demonstration of the effective and strategic nature of our campaigns.
It is important to point out that all these successes were made possible because of our robust and elaborate engagement with both the traditional, and the new media. We made it a deliberate policy to improve on the channel of communication between the party and the media.
I am convinced that you can all attest to the fact that the party's image is today much better than it has been one year ago. Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to conclude this address by a again expressing my personal appreciation to our dear Governor, His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule for his endorsement for me to become the Chairman of the party after he appointed my predecessor Dr. John D. W. Mamman into the State Cabinet. However, I wish to thank him more for his immeasurable and consistent support and assistance to the party, he has shown in the past one year that he has the interest of the APC in his heart.
There has never been a time the party has approached him with a problem, without him coming to our rescue. Ladies and gentlemen, the most important support His Excellency has given the party is his commendable service to the entire state.
The developmental strides he has achieved, as an APC Governor, has made our party more popular and acceptable to majority of the people.
The party in particular, and the people of Nasarawa State are grateful to the Governor, because he is steadily uplifting our dear state to become an industrial giant that will sooner be the envy of other states in the country. It is therefore necessary to urge all the people of the state to continue to support the Government.
I urge all and sundry in Nasarawa State to show more patriotism to both the state and the country in general. Certainly, the current economic hardship as well as other challenges facing the country can be surmounted.
What is required of all patriots is to remain loyal, law abiding and prayerful.Let me take this opportunity to inform members of our party that the ban on campaign activities is still enforce.
As a disciplined political party therefore, we enjoin all to exercise restraint in the pursuit of our individual ambitions. When the time is ripe, the party leadership will communicate accordingly to ensure robust political activities.
This however, does no foreclose contacts and consultations in a bid to plan and realize individual political ambitions in the interest of the party and our dear state.
Once again, we thank you for honoring us with your esteemed presence.
