A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Aliyu, speaks on the gale of defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He bares his mind on the comment made by the national chairman of the ruling party, Dr. Abdullahi Danjuma, saying that it’s the personal opinion of APC leader and not the position of the party, he also speaks on why the ruling party is determined to ensure that the plan of the coalition by opposition to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027 fails, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:
Looking at the gale of defection to the APC and the fact that your party may not be able to manage the fortune, Also the fact that Wike is a member of PDP and is still strongly supporting your party, what can you say to that?
Governance is about the people. The government doesn’t belong to the APC. This government by Bola Ahmed Tinubu belongs to all Nigerians, which means that every Nigerian has a right to participate in the Government but when it comes to our issues, the APC what we do, regarding the members that we have, we don’t discuss that with Wike at all. We don’t go into a closed door with him, as far as the party is concerned.
Let me ask you about the possibility of the fear, threat of a one-party state. Dr. Ganduje said that there’s nothing wrong with a one-part state. He said that China is a one-party state and if Nigeria wants a one-party state, they’re all welcome that APC is ready for 2027. In your opinion as a man who is involved in democratic process, do you think that a one-party state is good for Nigeria?
Definitely a one-party state is not the best for us. In APC we’re not looking into one-party state. What Ganduje said is his personal opinion. It is not the position of the party, even though he is our leader but it is not the opinion of APC that we want a one-party state. I want you to know to note that it is not our fault if anybody runs to APC. We have been in opposition, we stayed in opposition until when we found ourselves in the ruling party. With all the intimidation. If the members of the PDP or other parties decide to join us, we won’t stop them. It’s their business. But, honestly having everybody join APC is not good for our democracy. Also democracy gives people the right to say, since all of you are in APC, we won’t vote for APC, we’ll vote for any other party. So, let this not scare anybody because the people will decide who to vote for. Whether 90 percent of Nigerians decide to join APC in terms of numbers but when it comes to voting, the people will decide who to vote for. So, if Nigerians don’t accept the gale of movement, they have the right to decide when elections come. When the other person spoke about intimidation, can you say, the former governor of Kebbi State was intimidated? This was the person who defeated a sitting governor, our sitting Governor of Kebbi State was contesting to be senator, and he defeated him. Now he has decided on his own to join the APC. So, if you look at all these, what is our fault? The fault is that they have accepted what we’re doing as a government.
You said that one-party state is not a good thing for democracy, even though you’re benefiting from the defection. You also said that the electorate has the right if it’s against the decision. They can express that at the ballot box during the election, but they did vote for these defectors already, and it wasn’t under APC. If you are saying that people should wait for the next election to express their dismay, how fair is the process, considering the fact that these people have already voted for these defectors under another party before these decisions are made?
Definitely the people do have a say. I’m a living example. I was a member of the House of Representatives. I have gone through a referendum to be recalled. There was actual voting in my constituency. Some people in my constituency didn’t want me to be there. By the grace of God I won. It means the people still have the right to say, you have decided to go to the party that we didn’t vote for, so they can still exercise their right and franchise in democracy to seek to recall them. So, no matter how you look at it, the people have the right to recall these people. So, if they don’t want these people to go into APC or any other party, they can recall them. The constitution allows that. They can do that before the election comes.
By March 25, there’s this talk about coalition politics, Nasir El-rufai one of the founding members of APC was the first person to walk away and in a round manner you see him teaming up with other people. How much of a threat do you see the emerging coalition, the one led by Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-rufai and the coalition provided by Prof. Pat Utomi, so how much of a threat do you think these groups pose to President Bola Tinubu, because they are determined to get him out of power, or you think they’re just making noise?
No. We don’t ignore anybody. They are Nigerians, they have equal rights with us in this country. So, they have a right. So we don’t take it that they are just making a noise. They are responsible Nigerians who just don’t agree with what we’re doing as a government. We’re watching them and we are trying to see that they don’t succeed because this is politics. As far as they’re concerned we’re not doing the right thing, and they’re trying to remove us in whichever way they desire. So, we’re also working behind the scene to ensure that they don’t succeed to defeat us as a party. We don’t ignore them, we respect them. They’re responsible Nigerians who have contributed in one way or the other to the development of this country. We respect them, we appreciate what they’re doing and that is part of democracy. You don’t have to agree with us. They can continue to meet while we continue to plan to stop them.
You’re the foundation member of APC, one of the foundation members, Nasir El-rufai is disappointed and he said that the party has gone away from the ideals of the founding fathers. He thinks Tinubu’s team is not doing well. What do you think of Nasir El-rufai’s turn around, against the same party that he supported, against the same person he helped to promote?
All the things he’s talking about Tinubu and the party not being there. Saying, the party has turned away from its ideals are simply because he’s not a minister today. If he were a minister he wouldn’t be talking like this. We’re yet to see this kind of elite walking away from the largess of office. As far as I’m concerned I feel that El-rufai is ranting simply because he lost out. The same El-rufai who said all kinds of things about people who didn’t agree with Tinubu to make sure that Tinubu becomes the candidate of the party. Tinubu got the ticket. He lost out for the ministerial appointment, When he didn’t get it, he is unhappy. He shouldn’t pull down the roof just because he lost out. So many people lost out from the system and they’re still with the party. It shouldn’t be about personal interest. He should remember that he became a governor for eight years under this same party. Was he not the same person who took the party to court when President Buhari was in government? When he didn’t agree with it? He didn’t resign as a member of the party nor moved to another party, because it was very convenient for him that time. To me he has just chickened out.