President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met with members of the National Working Committee of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress.
The meeting held at the Defence House, Abuja was the first since Buhari assumed office as Nigeria’s president.
The National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, led other members of the NWC to the meeting.
Fielding questions from newsmen, Odigie-Oyegun confirmed that the challenge of security was discussed, expressing optimism that President Buhari will surprise the Boko Haram sect leaders.
According to him, the series of attacks carried out by the insurgents were meant to test the will of the President.
He said: “Well, he (Buhari) has spoken on security all through the campaign.
“The insurgents are trying to test his resolve and I have a feeling they will be in for surprises.
“There is nothing like lives. He was elected to protect Nigerian lives and that is even his first priority.”
The APC National Chairman spoke further on their mission to the President’s office: “I led my colleagues in the National Working Committee of the All Progressive Congress APC, to pay our respect to the President.
“We have not done so before now because we wanted the event to move to the ultimate climax, which is his installation as President and Commander-in-Chief and that has occurred. So we just came here to facilitate with him, pledge our loyalty, determination to work with him through thick and thin. That he can always depend on the party that he used as a platform to become president of this great nation.
“We noted the fact that expectations are extremely high and that the public expects a totally new dawn. On that score, we told him we are with you, Mr. President, you will succeed because the entire party will be galvanised as one man behind you, to ensure that days into this presidency that Nigerians will indeed see that things are changing.
“All the problems cannot be solved in one day that you will flick to bring that kind of eventuality. But what Nigerians want is to be sure that we are getting it right and that we are on the proper path towards answering their long frustration towards ameliorating their condition and that is what they will get.
“We did have frank discussions and I think all that happened is that he was quite appreciative of our declaration of support. He briefed us on one or two issues and we are quite pleased at the way things are going.”
On the delay in the nomination of ministers and other appointees, Odigie-Oyegun said: “All I can say is that Mr. President is committed to carrying the party along in everything that he does and we are very grateful for that.
“He has always been like that. He has put the party in the front burner in all the things he does at all times and he has continued to do that.”
On the imminent internal crisis the issue of National Assembly leadership could generate if not properly handled, Odigie-Oyegun said: “There will be no crisis. I want to give you that assurance.
“We are very conscious of the fact that the National Assembly is a separate arm of government and the constitution provides that they are the ones responsible for electing their own officers. All we have to do is provide for them a conducive environment of doing just that.”
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