National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress(APC),Alhaji Lai Mohammed,has submitted that the strong character and integrity of the person of the party’s Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, contributed immensely to the victory of his party in the election.
Mohammed who spoke with journalists at the party’s National secretariat, Abuja, while the final results of the Presidential election were being announced by the Chief Returning Officer, Professor Attahiru Jega, said that if Buhari was not the APC candidate, the party would have lost the election. “Buhari’s strong personality, character and integrity, his anti-corruption stance for which he has been known for so many years now, helped to make this victory easier for us”, Mohammed said.
On what would have been the fate in the election if any other candidate other than Gen. Buhari had been fielded, he said, “we would have lost woefully. Buhari made our victory very easy. He is a major factor in the land mark victory. It has never happened that an incumbent is defeated in a national election”.
He argued also that providence played a major role in the party’ electoral success over the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”jThere was a lot of providence in what happened,like in the choice of the name of the party,APC,the merger itself, the card reader which was not our idea but that of the Federal Government which adopted it first”.
He said that President Goodluck Jonathan was ruined by those who were with him. “If Jonathan came from the APC,he would have remained in power for a very long time. His greatest problem was in those who lined himself around him.The people who surrounded him saw him as meal ticket. They milked him dry”.
He said the people made him to wast a lot of money bribing all manner of people because they too benefited immensely from what was being dished out.
On the fate of thePDP, he advised the party to learn one lesson from this election. “PDP will soon become a regional party judging from its performance in this Presidential election.While Buhari’s victory cut across four zones in the country Jonathan won majorly in the South-South and South-East zones.From this you can take it that the PDP is already shrinking into a regional party”, he said.
He thanked the media for the robust role they played in the electioneering and the election proper. Without your efforts, we would have been where we are now.