President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday explained how uncalculated moves by the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) paved way for his party; the All Progressives Congress(APC) success in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking to APC governors during a visit to his residence at Aso Villa, Buhari said that overconfidence, reliance on external factors and poor tactical moves led to the failure of the opposition parties to thereby making APC stole the show in the elections.
The President added that APC got its act together by applying cautious, confidence and hard work to retain power, won by President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He roundly defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
His words: “They were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC.”
He added: Our Party blended confidence with caution. We worked hard and won. Now, their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else.
“They are finding it hard to convince those who supported them from outside why they are unable to beat us.”
Speaking further on the election, the President added: “An important reason I congratulate Asiwaju (Tinubu) on winning is that the opposition got support and false hope from outside and went on to create the impression that they will win, that they will defeat us. How more wrong could anyone be?” he asked.
He charged the Progressive Governors to stick together and openly address issues among themselves.
“Try and keep solving problems. Be courageous to discuss them openly among yourselves. This is the best way to survive politically in Nigeria,” said the President.
He urged that to “have a programme to meet regularly and to discuss issues and how to maintain the party nationwide.”
The governors also met with Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima at the President-elect’s residence, where he urged them to remain on the same page with the party leadership in the plan for the election of the principal officers of the National Assembly.