President Muhammadu Buhari and President-elect, Bola Tinubu
By EZEKIEL OBI, Abuja –
President Muhammadu Buhari has bagged the Nation Builder Award at an event organised by the All Progressives Congress (APC), United Kingdom chapter, to celebrate Nigeria’s 61st Independence Anniversary in London.
Mr Jacob Ogunseye, the chapter’s Publicity Secretary, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said Sen. Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the APC, was also nominated for the Leadership Award at the event held on Oct. 2, at Dorchester Hotel, London, UK.
According to the statement, the Pinnacle Award winners were Dr Ibrahim Emokpaire, Dr Kenny Ojutalayo and Dr Garba Sani, while Mrs Carolyn Adelakun, Hajiya Rakiya Abubakar and Mrs Ifeoma Onochie-Faruk received the Extra-ordinary Service Awards.
It said Mrs Vivian Osadebay-Ndah and Lady Edith Nwachukwu also received the Extra-ordinary Service Award, while the winners of the Dedication and Service Award were Mrs Kikelomo Oyebiyi-Oladapo and Mr Udeme Ukpe.
The award was received on behalf of the President by the Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafadeen Tunji Isola.
The award for Tinubu was received on his behalf by Alhaji Bello Abubakar. Former Managing Director/CEO Gamji Bank, Nigeria.
The statement said Mr Ade Omole, Leader of the chapter, while addressing members of the party at the event, called for peace and unity in Nigeria.
He said that despite the country’s present challenges, her future looked convincingly bright, adding that Independence Day should be seen as a day for reflection on the country’s past, work on the present and plan for the future.
“It is a time to rework, re-jig, revamp and re-engineer the country for economic eldorado and structural workability to guarantee good living standards for the entire citizenry,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Omole said the APC UK under his leadership would continue to do everything within its capacity to assist the APC, Federal Government and the country at large to ensure real development.
This, he stressed, was what all APC members, executive and non-executive had signed on to, adding that the Independence Day celebration should be seen as beyond partying and dancing, but a time for sober reflection.
He commended the Nigerian Armed Forces for keeping the country together as one despite several security breaches and for the relative internal peace.
The APC UK leader noted that we may not be where we ought to be as a country, but we are not where we used to be.
He reiterated that as the country moved towards 2023 general elections, the APC was poised to retain power, not by do-or-die politicking, but with the overt milestones it had recorded in the last six years under Buhari.
He assured that more development milestones would be achieved before the end of the administration’s tenure, adding that 2022 would be a year for commissioning loads of projects.
He said more infrastructural strides of the APC government would be unveiled, adding that the several projects the Buhari-led administration would be inaugurating come 2022, can only guarantee economic growth.