2015: Buhari, Tinubu go after aggrieved PDP govs

[Mirror]

The scramble for the 2015 presidency thickened yesterday as top echelon of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, intensified efforts to woo the seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors to its fold.

Former military Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who led a highpowered APC delegation to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano yesterday, stated emphatically that: "We are here on a very tough and ruthless recruitment drive."

The APC delegation also met Governor Sule Lamido in Dutse, Jigawa yesterday.

The APC leaders were in Sokoto State on Tuesday where they also met with Governor Aliyu Wamakko and others.

APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, said the delegation was in Kano to showcase the party as a platform and soft ground for great minds like Kwankwaso.

Chieftains of the party in the delegation were Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo).

Others include former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Masari; former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and former governors of Borno and Benue states, Senators Ali Modu Sheriff and Geoge Akume.

Buhari noted that the APC felt uncomfortable with Kano not being in the progressive fold, saying they would ensure that the state "comes on board".

He said: "We are in Kano to lure you (Kwankwaso) into APC and I am also here with my colleagues, and the governors from other states, to convince you firstly, that we feel very uncomfortable about Kano not coming along with us.

"We are here on a tough and ruthless recruitment drive, we are a people-oriented party and our concern is about our people and Nigeria. What APC is fundamentally going to do is to secure and effectively manage this country when we secure power."

The former military ruler also lauded the governor for his courage and political sagacity.

Buhari said: "I am very grateful to Governor Kwankwaso for his courage, alertness and congratulate him for his luck, because not so many people get the opportunity to correct whatever mistake they think they have made.

"He was a governor, we voted him out, he quietly went to the Ministry of Defence and came back and got elected. So, he is a very lucky person. It is not the red cap that gave him the victory; it is his stars. So, in our bid to get Kano back, we enjoin the governor to join us to deliver this country; and by the mercy of God, we shall succeed."

The Interim National Chairman of the party, Akande, noted that the G7 governors should see APC as a soft-ground for them.

He said: "We decided to come to you to solidarise with you because we know you are of great mind. That is why some of you are being persecuted in your political party.

"Wherever small minds are in sour, great minds are persecuted. So, in recognition of this, the leaders of the APC decided to come and lure you to join the progressive party."

Akande told Kwankwaso that the APC had enough rooms for great minds like him.

"We are proud to showcase APC as a platform and a soft-ground for great minds like you. For that reason, we decided to come and let you know that we have plenty rooms in APC for great minds.

"Our coming to Kano has shown us the tremendous transformation that has taken place in Kano metropolis. These are the type of things we want governors of APC to be able to do just like the ones in Lagos, Edo, Osun, Ekiti and everywhere. And when we see such type of development in Kano, we are always proud of you.

"On behalf of my party, the APC, Mr. Governor, we are here as campaigners in politics which is not about individuals; it is about the unity and progress of Nigeria. We invite you to look favourably to our party," Akande said. Okorocha, who spoke on behalf of the APC governors, assured that the opposition party would win the 2015 election, saying, "victory has been signed and sealed for the APC".

"We have come to invite you, our brother, into this movement. APC is not a political party per se; it is a movement, a movement of change. We are people carefully selected by God.

"We'll assure you as our colleagues that governors in APC are accorded their due respect. I want to assure you that you are coming to a place you rightfully belong," Okorocha said.

In his response, Kwankwaso said that he would consult PDP stakeholders in the state before he could join the APC.

"I will sit down with all stakeholders because there is no decision a governor can sit down and take on his own without consulting the stakeholders of the party. Kwankwasiyya Movement is a disciplined movement. We are working as group and team," he said.

He described Kwankwasiyya as a 'powerful movement' which had the capacity and strength to win election in 2015.

He said that the PDP had 31 out of 40 state Assembly members, two senators and 14 members of the House of Representatives.

"Certainly we will sit down all of us and look at all the challenges and the consequences if any and together we will take decision on what to do and communicate to you.

"If you are expecting me to say yes or no to your offer now, you will not get it because we have to sit down as one family and weigh the challenges; and at the end of the day, we will communicate you through Gen. Buhari," he said.

Former governor of Kano State and 2011 presidential candidate of the defunct All Nigeria People's Party, ANPP, Ibrahim Shekarau was absent at the parley.

But Tinubu allayed the fears about Shekarau's absence at the meeting, saying, "I am not sure that he is available for this meeting, but there is no problem."

However, in an interview with journalists, Shekarau blamed his absence on communication gap, adding that he was informed late on Wednesday evening about the meeting and so had not enough time to attend.

Meanwhile, the PDP yesterday blasted the APC, describing it as a hypocritical party lacking in genuine ideology and principles.

PDP said that the opposition party had indicted itself by wooing some of its members to join its fold, adding that such move portrayed the APC as a party that lacked electable material at all levels.

The ruling party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said: "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 dramatise 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 bed fellows 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."

Metuh said that the APC had shown that it was nothing but "a party of hypocrites driven by desperate and blind quest for power and not by any ideology geared towards serving the interest of the people."

"No genuine member of the PDP will opt for the APC. Joining the APC is to join in promoting divisions among Nigerians. "This is a party of religious bigots who have continued to fan the embers of religious fanatism, ethnicism, dissensions and general social intolerance among Nigerians," it said.

PDP, however, described the APC leader, Tinubu, as a feudal lord, who had turned Lagos and some South-West states into his personal estates.