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Former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has said that the inability of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to give President Muhammadu Buhari structural support was responsible for the non-reflection of the President’s good intentions to Nigerians.
Opening up on the problems bedeviling the party, Rochas urged President Buhari to adopt hire and fire mechanism to the governance of the country should he want the dividends of democracy to rapidly get to the grassroots.
He spoke when members of the APC non-National Working Committee, Natonal Executive Committee (NEC) Integrity Group paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, blaming the problems of the party on the selfishness of the party leaders.
Okorocha, representing Imo West senatorial district in the National Assembly, endorsed the sacking of the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC, stressed that wheels of governance could move much more faster if persons in sensitive positions are rewarded or sacked for inefficiency.
He however called on the leadership of the APC to urgently return the party to how things were at the formation stage, quipping that APC has become a party where right is wrong and wrong is right.
He equally expressed disappointment over the party’s continued loss of some states to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) especially the recent loss of Edo state, insisted that it is painful that the party is not in charge of any state in the entire South-south geopolitical zone.
‘You asked me what has gone wrong in our party. My answer is that what is wrong for the party is that the right has become wrong and wrong is now right. And if it continues we may not be finding solutions to the challenges facing our party. But there is still light at the dark end of the tunnel if we can revert to the how it all started and where we started from.
Emphasising that Buhari’s good intentions does not reflect the practical realities on ground, he said: ‘what it means is that our party the APC leadership and all those concern have not rendered the necessary support to President Buhari in achieving his heart desires for this country.’
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Defending his directive to President Buhari to fire and hire, he said: ‘I must say here that what works in most developed countries is hire and fire which brings discipline in the system. There is nothing as bad as persons who occupy government positions and are not working but are kept for sentiment basis.’
‘They should be fired to create room for those who can perform. There is nobody on earth who is Alpha and Omega, if you can’t do the job, be sure that someone can do it.’
‘That is why I endorsed the sacking of the past leadership of the NWC led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.’
‘But when you know you cant be fired If you messed up, you tend to messed up the more. So, I suggest that our party should begin the issue of hire and fire. That is why I commend the decision to remove the leadership of APC. That is how it should go, if you can’t do the job we show you the way out. I will urge our part the APC, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari imbibe the spirit and fire so that people can sit up and do the right thing.’
‘The problem of the party is the selfishness of the political leaders. We no longer have what I term collective responsibility, rather we have selfish responsibility where leaders are busy thinking the next election and what positions they can occupy instead of thinking about the dividends of democracy as it should affect the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’
“We therefore come back to the root of the problem in our party because the very people who worked for the success of the party, are the ones that have been neglected, rather, those who came yesterday have taken over. This is why there is so much anger from the ward level to the national.’
‘Those who have been empowered, have refused to empower others from the ward to the national level. The issue of empowerment is empower one person so that he can empower others, but those who have been empowered now have new friends and neglected the foot soldiers and at the end of the day, it is President Buhari that takes the brunt.’
‘This is why I advice that we go back to the drawing board and some of this laudable projects should be extended to the party. I do not see any ward chairman and his 26 members who cannot farm under the Anchor-Borrower program. So, policies of our government are just hanging and do not get to the grassroots. Owners of our party are not participating in the running of the party,’ he lamented.
Earlier, the leader of the Integrity Group, Sadiq Abubakar, who led the delegation, insisted that the crisis currently bedeviling the party is the lack of a concrete reward system for loyal party members.
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