Mohammed Kumalia, a former Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, has stated that the current All Progressives Congress (APC) is Nigeria’s governing party today due to the contribution of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party’s national leader and former Lagos state governor.
Kumalia, who claimed Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari are not at odds over who is the party’s leader, intimated that the title of ‘national leader’ of the APC, which is not in the party’s constitution, was bestowed on Tinubu to recognize his significant contribution to the party’s achievement from its inception to the present.
He said “As far as I know, the position of the national leader of the APC given to Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an appellation. It was given to him just to recognize his contributions to the party as an individual. There is nothing like ‘national leader’ in the constitution of the party. I think the title was given to him out of respect and recognition of his stature, status and indeed, his contribution to the APC as a party.”
“Love him or hate him, without what he brought to the table, there is no way APC could have been able to form government in 2015. That is the role that Tinubu played and nobody can take that away from him”.
“Whether you call him national leader or not, you can’t take that away from him. That however does not imply that he is in anyway contesting the position of the party leader with the president.
“The president is both the spiritual, administrative embodiment and leader of the party. His position is sacrosanct, non-negotiable and not contestable. Any other person can only come and support the president in giving leadership to the party”.
Source:NaijaOnPoint.com
