Farouk Aliyu, one of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has criticized Umar Ganduje, the party’s chairman, over his one-party state remark.
According to reports, the former House of Representatives Minority Leader stated that Ganduje’s stance on a one-party state did not reflect the party’s stance.
Aliyu defended the defecting opposition politicians to his party in an interview with Arise News on Tuesday.
A one-party state is undoubtedly not ideal for us. One-party states are not something that the APC is considering. The opinions expressed by Ganduje are his own. Although he is our leader, he stated that the APC does not support a one-party state, thus that is not the party’s view.
“The opposition parties are responsible for maintaining order in their houses,” he said. However, he asserted that it would be detrimental to the country’s democracy if all politicians joined the APC.
But I want you to know that if someone flees to APC, it’s not our fault. We were in opposition and remained so until we were incorporated into the ruling party. Considering all the threats and so forth. We won’t stop members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or other parties from joining us.
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To be honest, though, our democracy would suffer if everyone joined the APC. Democracy also grants individuals the freedom to declare, “Since you are all in the APC, we will vote for any other party instead of the APC.” Therefore, don’t be alarmed by this; the electorate will choose the candidate. When it comes to voting, the people will choose who to support, regardless of whether 90 percent of Nigerians choose to join the APC, he said.
The chieftain of the Jigawa State APC emphasized that Nigerians, not party identification, should determine the outcome of an election.
If Nigerians are unhappy with politicians who have switched parties, he urged them to vote them out.
“The Nigerian people have the right to choose when elections are held if they don’t like the flurry of activity. Can you say that the previous governor of Kebbi State was intimidated when the other person mentioned intimidation? This individual overthrew an incumbent governor. He defeated our current governor of Kebbi State, who was running for a Senate seat. He has now made the decision to join the APC. What is our fault, then, if you consider all of these? “It’s their acceptance of our government’s actions that is the fault,” he remarked.
Because he was not appointed a minister, former Governor Nasir El-Rufai switched to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the former member of the House of Representatives continued.
He wouldn’t be saying this if he were a minister. This type of elite resigning from the grandeur of office is something we have yet to witness. I think El-Rufai is just venting because he missed out, in my opinion,” he continued.
