The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has emphasized the party’s commitment to fostering internal democracy to minimize factionalism and reduce tension within the party.
Ganduje made this statement on Thursday during a meeting with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kano State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at his office in Abuja.
“We always encourage internal democracy so that we reduce tension, factionalisation of the party. Even though you have to get incidences here and there, but equally the same, when we have internal democracy you will find that there is more understanding and there is more hope, especially when you are facing an election,” Ganduje explained.
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He highlighted the importance of maintaining a strong connection between those in office and the party’s operational structure. “That is if you are talking of the governors, they have a close relationship between them and the party’s structure in the state level and the same thing at the national level.
So, we normally invite our officials from the state level and give them some information, educate them on issues like internal democracy,” Ganduje, who is also the immediate past Governor of Kano State, said.
Ganduje also announced the establishment of a Progressives Institute, which will serve as an intellectual wing of the party. “On the issue of having an intellectual wing for the party, we established what we call the Progressives Institute. It is to analyze national issues so that they can get the attention of the government to become an agenda for the government,” he stated.
Addressing the typical activity patterns of political parties in developing countries, Ganduje criticized the tendency to be active only during election campaigns. “Political parties in developing countries like Nigeria are normally active during electioneering campaigns, but that is not how it should be,” he remarked.
To address this, he said the APC has aimed to remain active year-round. “When we came in, we said we must change the narrative. Our political party, the APC as an institution, we wanted to be active throughout the year; that is why we directed our offices and chapters at the ward level to ensure that all our offices are renovated, so as to become habitable and also operational.
That is only possible when they create activities that will be taking place at the party offices right from ward level to the local government level down to the state level,” Ganduje added.
