Jegaban has spoken... Baba na Baba yns4real: PDP factions differ on mega party plans *Buhari deceived the North with Islam— Junaid *I won’t leave PDP—Babatope By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor; Ben Agande, Charles Kumolu & Gbenga Oke LAGOS— Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has vowed not to defect from the All Progressives Congress, APC, saying he would not abandon a house he helped to build to form another mega party. Tinubu’s declaration came as the Senator Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, vowed, yesterday, that it would not agree to the reported moves by the rival Ahmed Makarfi-led faction to transform the party through the inclusion of some political heavyweights from the APC and other parties. Tinubu and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar are among leading political stakeholders who have been mentioned in the formation of the mega party. Meanwhile, the harmony of the Makarfi faction on the matter of the mega party was, yesterday, being tested after one of the leading enthusiasts of the faction, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, vowed to fight off the hegemony of the APC from within the PDP as it was. Meantime, Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday, slammed the moves towards the formation of another mega party as another indication of the insincerity of the political class. He said President Muhammadu Buhari deceived the North using the toga of Islam, even as he dismissed the PDP as a party in death throes.
Speculations about Tinubu’s exit from the APC heightened after penultimate Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State which was won by Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, the candidate backed by the mainstream of the party, led by President Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu had called for the cancellation of the primaries that produced Akeredolu as the candidate of the party on the claim that his emergence was fraught with irregularities. His call was, however, cavalierly snubbed by the national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, leading to a blistering attack by Tinubu on Odigie-Oyegun. Tinubu vows not to abandon APC Responding through a series of tweets yesterday, Tinubu said he would not “engage in destructive pettiness.” “In our journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then corrected,” the former Lagos State governor said. “ Through it all, I, Asiwaju, will remain true to the progressive ideals that fuelled the creation of APC. “I have devoted my political life to achieve what has been achieved. My heart is too much of the people, and my mind too fixed on establishing positive historic legacy… rather than engage in destructive pettiness. “This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s desires.” As PDP factions differ on mega party plans Meanwhile, the two factions of the PDP yesterday differed on the approach towards the mega party. While Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh, deputy national chairman of the Sheriff faction, who spoke on behalf of Sheriff, said the party was not opposed to having members join the party for as long as they were joining as individuals, spokesman of the Makarfi led mainstream, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the issue of forming mega party with other politicians remained “mere speculation.” Ojuogboh said the party would accept any member of any other political party willing to join it, but would not subsume the party under any other platform. “We are ready to accept anybody who wants to join our party, but they must come as individuals. Nobody will come as a group to dictate to us how the party should be run. Moreover, we have discovered that big names don’t win elections. We want to return the party to the people, and everybody who wants to join should join as individuals and will be treated as such,” he said. In his reaction, spokesman of the National Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the issue of joining forces with other politicians remained a mere speculation which he would not comment on. “Some people just want to draw the party into commenting on a matter that is mere speculation. I don’t want to comment on that speculation,” he said. Babatope vows not to leave PDP Meanwhile, Chief Babatope, a member of the PDP, Board of Trustees, has vowed to fight off the hegemony of the APC from within the PDP as it was. Speaking to Vanguard, he said: “Nobody has come to tell me that they want to form a new political party from the PDP. I wish those doing that good luck, but I am not going to be enthusiastic about joining a new party. “I will not also support anyone who is forming a new party. All I know is that I belong to the Markarfi faction and we will remain in the PDP and fight. I am one of the few founding fathers of the party, who are still in the party and I will remain in the party.” Buhari deceived the North with Islam— Junaid Dr. Junaid Mohammed, on his part, dismissed the moves towards the formation of a mega party as meaningless, given the inconsistency of the political class. He said: “I believe before we get to 2019, the people of Nigeria will decide what to do. What I can see right now is that the PDP is dead and APC is on its way to collapse. I am not surprised about the development in PDP because its convocation from day one was not that of a political party and for APC, it is a party in transition and on its way to collapse. “Some of us thought APC will make a difference, but President Buhari has shown he is a nepotic leader who deceived the North that he has the interest of the North at heart, being a Muslim but in real sense, he has not done anything for the North. In fact, the North has been backward under him.” Also speaking, the Second Vice President of the NBA, Mr. Monday Ubani, described the move for the formation of the mega party as illustrative of the fickleness of the political class. He said: “I had thought that with the formation of the APC, we were going to have two strong parties like it is in the UK and America so that at a point, the parties would be the only parties in the country. “That was my thinking, but I don’t know if the interest of those thinking of a new party is of national interest. I am totally flabbergasted. It seems they are taking us for granted because it is the same set of people who will be in the new party, nothing will change. Even if the new party has another name, it will lack ideologies because I am in doubt if the reason for it is the national interest.” http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/no-quitting-apc-tinubu-vows-buhari-deceived-north-islam-says-junaid/ 1 Like |