The All Progressives Congress (APC) has named Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, which the party said would drive the its efforts to win the 2015 presidential election.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the announcement followed the hugely successful convention at which its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was democratically elected, and the follow-up successful choice of his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
He said Amaechi’s outstanding reputation as a man of courage, principle, strength of character, decency and love of country, as well as his administrative prowess and organisational skills combined to fetch him perhaps the most important task in the quest for positive change in Nigeria.
APC thanked Nigerians for their support and prayers toward the success of the convention, the emergence of Buhari as the APC presidential candidate and the choice of Osinbajo as his running mate.
Mohammed expressed the party’s belief that it has lived up to its promise to Nigerians to ensure that the choice of its presidential running mate would be made within the context of the best democratic ideals, considering the enormously-positive reactions from the general public to the choice of Osinbajo.
“With a presidential candidate that has rekindled the hopes of the citizenry and revived their belief in democratic ideals, we believe we must also choose a running mate that will complement the sterling qualities of the presidential candidate,” Mohammed said.
“We must confess that the choice was a tough one, considering the array of eminently-qualified and outstanding candidates that we had to choose from.
“Yes, we were spoilt for choice but, in the end, we picked as running mate a man whose pedigree, nationally, sub-regionally, regionally and globally, attests to the fact that our party, the APC, is a repository of high quality leadership materials, and that our country, Nigeria, has no shortage of the very best human resources.”
Mohammed pointed out that whether in the academic, legal or ecclesial world, Osinbajo stands much taller than his physical frame, and serves as a good accompaniment to our presidential candidate, himself a man of such rare sterling qualities that have stood the test of time, qualities that are now so sorely lacking in our country’s leadership.
“Our presidential running mate is an award-winning professor of law, a legal luminary, a gentleman, a much-sought-after public speaker,a tested administrator, an author and a man of great ecclesiastical standing,” he said.
“Educated in Nigeria and the UK, Prof. Osinbajo is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, who has served in many organizations and professional bodies in Nigeria, West Africa, Africa and the United Nations.
“He has authored or edited over a dozen publications, has taught and practised law at the high levels, and has served on the Editorial Boards of learned publications and non-legal publications, in addition to publishing many articles in learned journals.
“Now that we have presented Nigerians with the best possible choices for the exalted positions of President and Vice President, we expect that citizens, who have been yearning for quality leadership, will use their voting power to put Nigeria firmly on the path of greatness.
“A country seeking to be among the greats in the comity of nations cannot afford to have a mediocre leadership.”
