Job Creation, Fight Against Corruption, Top APC Manifesto

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has put job creation and the fight against corruption as two key areas of focus in its manifesto whose details will be officially unveiled on Thursday.

Addressing journalists at the APC secretariat in Abuja, interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Muhammed, said an important highlight of its public opinion poll was the fact that several Nigerians who responded to the survey enquiries agreed that governance priority must be on dealing with unemployment and corruption.

“The poll we conducted did not tell us that we are popular everywhere in Nigeria, but it showed where we are strong and where we are weak, where we are misunderstood and where we were well perceived. With the poll, we were able to know which zones we are doing very well and where we are not and needed more work.

“First, the Presidency was clearly confused. They seemed to think the APC conducted this survey ourselves. No, they got things wrong. Unlike the PDP, we do not conduct surveys ourselves; instead, we commission professionals to conduct our polls. We use experts in the field so that the results are accurate and above reproach.

“In this instance, KA Research Limited, Africa Division. It was the largest survey of its kind ever conducted in Nigeria.I understand how this might have been confusing to the Presidency, since the PDP does not use unbiased, professional pollsters. That explains why the results were such a shock to the PDP. The Presidency suggested we were practicing some kind of voodoo, it seems that the voodoo is coming entirely from the PDP and its survey company.

The roadmap to be presented at the national summit of the party would contain details of the draft manifesto, which will be fine-tuned after consideration by members into a manifesto document.

Speaking on the poll result, Mohammed said an overwhelming majority of respondents (60 per cent) said job is the dominant issue that the government should address, while 59 per cent of Nigerians thought Jonathan is doing a bad job in the fight against corruption.

On the issue of poaching from PDP, he said APC never went about poaching as was alleged by the National Chairman of PDP during a rally in Kwara State.

He said APC leadership has a foresight in planning for the merger which resulted in the formation of a stronger opposition party that could stand as a better alternative for Nigerians who are tired of PDP.

The party said APC is now sure of the support of majority of Nigerians.