Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, Thursday, said that many of the leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, would have been sent on compulsory retirement had it been that Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or Peter Obi of the Labour Party, had won in the February 25 presidential elections.

Shehu also said that the victory of the President-elect and Vice President-elect, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, respectively and the established control of the APC in 21 out of 36 states in the last general elections, firmly established the party as a dominant national Political Party.

Speaking while receiving the Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum, AYLF, the umbrella body for all young lawyers in the Northern part of Nigeria, the presidential spokesman said, ‘‘This is a difficult reality for the opposition parties.”

According to him, opposition victory in the general election would not only have been a career-ending moment for many APC leaders but would also have had negative consequences for the various programmes of the Buhari administration that empowered marginalised groups and remedied much of the nation’s infrastructure deficit.

A statement issued by Patience Tilley-Gyado,
Deputy Director, Information, State House, quoted him as saying, “APC victory in the election is a watershed moment for the Buhari government, its orientation, its programmes and projects.

‘‘In the hands of the opposition, many of the laudable programmes of the Buhari administration would have been sabotaged or unimplemented.

“An important and overlooked aspect of the Tinubu/Shettima victory is that it ensures, not only an orderly transfer of power from the outgoing administration to the incoming one, but also the safety of policies and programmes of the outgoing government.

‘‘For this, we remain grateful to the Almighty, and to citizens of Nigeria for sticking with our Party.”

In accepting his appointment as Grand Patron of the Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum, the presidential spokesman urged members of the association to be at the vanguard of promoting the study and practice of legal profession in the northern states.

“To build and secure democracy in our communities, you need lawyers and journalists as its guardians and protectors. Without one, the other will not be successful,” he admonished them.

The Chairman of AYLF, Barr. Olayinka Dauda Jimoh craved the support of the Presidency in giving strategic training to young wigs to enhance their leadership roles in the society.

Other members of the Forum at the meeting were Barr. Audu Umaru, National Welfare Director (Borno State), Barr. Ahmad Khalil, National Treasurer (Yobe State) and Barr Paul Gbande, Director of Publicity (Benue State).