2015: APC will give PDP a good fight – Aliyu

Niger State Governor, Babangida
Aliyu, has said the emergence of the
All Progressive Congress, APC, is a
party would bring about the needed
political revolution in the country. Aliyu spoke when the leadership of
APC led by its interim National
Chairman, Bisi Akande, visited him in
Minna, the state capital. The party leadership, during the
meeting, formally invited the
governor to join the APC. On the delegation were Deputy
National Chairman and former
Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Masari;
former Head of State, Muhammadu
Buhari; former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu; Senate Minority Leader
and ex-Benue State Governor, George
Akume. Others include National Publicity
Secretary, Lai Mohammed; and
National Vice Chairman, South-South,
Tom Ikimi, former Minister of Works,
Hassan Lawal; former Edo State
Governor, John Odigie-Oyegun; and former Minister of Labour, Musa
Gwadabe. The team had earlier visited Governors
Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Musa
Kwankwaso (Kano), Chibuike Amaechi
(Rivers), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara),
Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Aliyu
Wamakko (Sokoto). In his remarks, Aliyu praised the
merging parties, saying the APC will
make the 2015 general elections more
challenging. “I said it that the coming together of
the ACN, ANPP and CPC brought
radicalism closer. The emergence of
APC is a harbinger for a proper
revolution, a revolution that will now
sanitize the politics of Nigeria,” he said. He advised the
Peoples
Democratic
Party, PDP, to
handle its
internal crisis with caution as
“the ruling party
today may be
opposition
tomorrow”. “What is
happening in our
party, PDP, is
the revolution
that is catching
up with the country. Many
see it as an
internal
struggle, but it is
a move to see
that the party is cleansed”. On the opposition leaders’ invitation
extended to him to join APC, Mr. Aliyu
said the G7 Governors would only
decide after their ongoing
negotiations with President Goodluck
Jonathan were concluded. “We have declared ceasefire because
we are negotiating (and) after that,
you can come with a blast. If we
resolve, we will still be friends and if we
don’t resolve, you will have as many of
us as possible. As a group, we the G7 are people who keep to agreement,”
the governor said. He further advised the APC to not
“just visit the G7 governors alone but
also visit all governors and let us see
who will not receive you. If other
parties see this move as a good way,
let them do it”. Earlier, Akande said “As the Chairman
of the Northern States Governors
Forum, you belong to a class of people
that needs to be treated gently. “Sadly, you are in a party that does
not recognize quality of men, they
don’t have respect for achievers and
inculcate the habit of treating
gentlemen badly. “It’s a pity that the moment you
started seeking for change in the
conduct of your party, your party
started treating you badly. We came
to solidarize with you and ask you and
the people of Niger state to join APC.” On his part, Tinubu said, the country
under APC would bring “changes that
take the welfare of the people as a
cornerstone of its economic policies,
changes that is focused on quality of
life of our men and women, changes that give priority to economic
priorities and take poverty off the
land and put our youth to work”.