• ‘Party lacks true followership, electable materials’
LEADERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday visited Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State in their bid to make the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors decamp to the opposition party.
In a reaction, PDP condemned what it described as an attempt by APC to woo its members into the opposition fold, saying the party lacks true followership and electable materials.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said, “by wooing PDP governors, the APC has also confirmed that it lacks true followership and electable materials at all levels, hence its desperate bid to poach from the PDP.”
Among the APC leaders who visited Kwankwaso at the Kano Government House, are former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Bola Tinubu, National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande and governors of Lagos, Ekiti and Imo states, Babatunde Fashola, Kayode Fayemi and Rochas Okorocha respectively.
Buhari disclosed that they were in Kano to formally invite Kwankwaso to join them in the new opposition party. “We are here to convince you that we don’t feel comfortable without Kano in our fold. We are a people-oriented party. Our concern is the development of Nigeria and Nigerians,” Buhari told the governor.
He assured the people of Kano State that APC would surprise the ruling party, and that most Nigerians were solidly behind any movement to salvage the nation from decay and bad governance.
Akande stated that whenever small minds are in power, great minds are persecuted. “There are plenty of routes in APC for great minds like Kwankwaso. On behalf of APC we are here as campaigners to Kwankwaso. This is not about individual preferences, but is about correcting our great party.”
In response, Kwankwaso expressed his happiness over the caliber of people that visited to woo him to APC. He said he would sit down with other stakeholders in his Kwankwasiyya team before taking a final decision.
Okorocha, who spoke on behalf of the governors present, said APC is a movement to reshape Nigeria, stressing that their generation is a chosen one to redirect the nation.
“The victory of APC in 2015 is signed, sealed and delivered. We started this with Kano because we know what Kwankwaso represents in Nigeria’s development. We are therefore calling on all the people of Kano State to know how influential Kwankwaso is in Nigerian politics,” Rochas stated.
Others who were at the Kano Government House are Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former governors of Borno and Benue states, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and George Akume and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari.
In Jigawa, Akande said Lamido, who has been a progressive has no business in the PDP in the first place. According to him, the visit is about the future and unity of Nigeria. He described APC as a fertile ground for Lamido and his company.
Tinubu described Lamido as one of those reliable individuals the APC can work with because of his courage and frankness.
“I don’t know how we found you under the heated umbrella and now that the umbrella is tearing it is time for you to return to where you belong,” he stated.
Buhari said their visit was about the present insecurity and effective management of Nigeria. He expressed his concern over the insecurity in some northern states, which has reduced their economic potentials to rubbles.
Buhari reiterated his position against killing of innocent people in the name of Islam.
Fashola extolled Lamido’s virtues, saying that he is a man who has always spoken his mind no matter what. “He is a man whose words have value, whose conviction is deep and when he is persuaded, it is difficult to change him.”
The statement reads in part: “In turning around to woo members of the PDP, a party it has continued to castigate, the APC has shown the height of hypocrisy and ultimately confirms to Nigerians that it has nothing to offer and truly lacked genuine ideology and principle. The APC has shown that it lacks genuine followership and electable materials. Otherwise why would it be desperate to poach from the PDP? Why would it celebrate and dramatize mere discussions with three or four aggrieved governors of the PDP?
“In any case, what else would one expect from a party borne out of lust for power. Nigerians are aware that the APC is nothing but a party of strange bedfellows united only by their inordinate quest and desperation for power. It is clear to all that what we have in the APC is a gathering of hypocrites and despots whose only interest is to rule and lord it over Nigerians. What the APC forgets is that Nigerians are no fools and cannot be deceived by its antics”.
The statement however said the PDP is not perturbed by the actions of the opposition, adding that, “no genuine member of the PDP will opt for the APC”, which it described as a party given to religious bigotry and promotion of violence and division among Nigerians.”
Source: Guardian
