Mr. Salihu Mustapha, who is aspiring to become the national Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress,APC has said he believes in team work not one-man show as the best way to improve the fortunes of the party. He said for him, “it is a team work. It is not a one-man show.”
Mustapha made this assertion Tuesday at a press conference in Abuja where he announced his aspiration for the office of APC National Chairman
“I am delighted to be before you this morning….First of all, I invited you to intimate you of my aspiration and to seek your support, partnership ..
“I want to be the National Chairman of APC not just for the title because I believe I have put in alot, I believe I have alot to still give to society and the party
Speaking on the state of the party, he said, “We have something at hand now.. (But) We can always improve upon what we have.I have gathered experience over the years, which I believe I should be able to make good use of to improve upon what we have now
“And that is why for me, it is a team work.It is not a one-man show.A team work in the sense that both you in the media space and those of us in the political space must team up together to see how we can give our people the best…I hope and pray that day will come when I will be the national chairman
Mustapha was born in Ilorin, Kwara State capital five decades ago. He holds a degree in Mineral Resources Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna.was mentored by politicians such as Dr Ezekiel Ezeogwu of the defunct Social Democratic Party SDP and Dr Sarah Jibril among others.
He has also garnered impressive experience on the political space.He was once National Publicity Secretary of the Progressive Liberation Party and also served Publicity Secretary of Progressive Action Congress. Mustapha was a prominent member of the All Peoples Party,APP as well as the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP
He has also been a close political ally of President Muhmmadu Buhari.It could be recalled that in 2011, Mustapha was unanimously elected as the Deputy National Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC which then led by President Muhammadu Buhari. The APC national chairmanship aspirant contested the gubernatorial election in Kwara State, but lost.
However, his Saliu Mustapha Foundation has continued to impact on the life of the aged, women and children. He was recently conferred with the titleTuraki of Ilorin by Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, the Emir of Ilorin.
While answering questions from journalists at th press briefing in Abuja, Mustapha said, “As a political party administrator, the most important thing is for you to be able to accommodate everybody..(to have listening )ears and to be able to temper justice, because you must have at the back of your mind that being the chairman of the party (is not where it ends), what is important is for your party to be victorious and for you to deliver the dividends or the promises of your manifesto.
“Like I said ,I want to come on board to do things differently. Yes, APC has done well, but I believe there is room for improvement .
Asked about his take on direct or indirect primaries, he said, “Some of these things I believe should be the strategy of the party on how to win its election. So I might not want to tell you where I stand on that publicly.Because for me, as a party we must always look at what will favour us.How do we come out victorious?
Mustapha also shed light on how he will build unity with the APC He said, “Even this interaction with you, theses are part of the things that I think I will do if I become chairman, such that APC will not be a cabal to itself. It will be It will be an open book .And when you have an open book, then there is no room for dissenting minds.. So there is a lot I will do to keep APC as one. My goodwill , my experience ,my way of administration which will be teamwork. This idea of one – man show does not go well and that is why, I always tell people sometimes, apolitical party administrator is somebody who gives people a listening ear.An executive governor, they tell him what he wants to hear, but a chairman of a party, you must listen to what people want to say, which I believe I have this in me
Should the Caretaker Committee to be dissolved or to continue in office, Mustapha said, “ For me these are internal issues of my party and we have our party mechanism on how some of these things will be addressed and I think the party constitution is there, very clear. The Caretaker committee is an extra-ordinary convention caretaker committee. So we must not forget, the work is still in progress.They are not there to remain there forever. They are doing their work. So we must support and see that they bring this to a successful ending. It is not time to say this person is right, this person is wrong. It was because something went wrong, that was why they came on borad.It is not time to start pushing blame..”
