Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), has likened the ruling party to Jehovah’s Witnesses — a
Christian group famed for its door-to-door evangelism.
The politician also described the opposition in Nigeria as
unserious and inactive.
Basiru, a former senator who represented Osun central, spoke
on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television, on Wednesday.
He was reacting to claims that the APC and the Bola
Tinubu-led federal government are steering Nigeria towards a one-party state
due to the wave of defections to the ruling party.
“The country is not our making. The politics of the country
is not our making,” Basiru said.
“I think the problem with Nigeria is that we don’t seem to
have people who are very serious in opposition and who take their job
seriously.
“You will not want a ruling party to do this work for you.
And I want to challenge your journalists. Tomorrow is a working day. Go around
the headquarters of all other political parties and see whether you see any
activity going on.”
Basiru commended the leadership of the APC and said the
party actively engages the grassroots.
“I must first and foremost give credence to the sagacity of
not only the president, but the progressives governors’ forum and the
leadership of the national working committee of our party,” he said.
“We go round, we are like Jehovah’s Witnesses, apology to
those who belong to that religious organisation… we go round and proselytise
our own party in all nooks and cranny.”
He said one of the key policies under the leadership of
Abdullahi Ganduje, national chairman of the APC, is to build a functional and
efficient party structure at every level in the country.
“That is what we are doing. We cannot do the work of
opposition for them,” he said.
‘OPPOSITION SHOULD
STOP LYING TO ITSELF’
Basiru recalled the role Tinubu played when he was in the
opposition, noting that the former Lagos governor remained resilient in the
face of probes.
“When we were in opposition, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for
instance, in the south-west, was the only surviving governor after the 2003
election,” he said.
“Even with what somebody was saying about harassment, the
now NSA said that then-governor Bola Tinubu was the most investigated governor
by the EFCC.
“After he left government, he was here in Abuja, arraigned
before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and he went through a whole trial in that
place.
“He did not abandon the ship. We were moving from one state
to the other trying to expand the scope of our activities.”
Basiru said the opposition must take responsibility for its
challenges instead of “lying to itself”.
He said the argument about harassment by the ruling party
lacks merit, citing the defection of lawmakers from various parties who have no
cases with anti-graft agencies.
“Before today, at least 15 members of the house of
representatives from Labour, SDP, PDP, NNPP had decamped to the APC,” he said.
“Some of them are first-timers. Have they even served for
two years? Do they have any problem with the EFCC?
“Three senators, including the late Ifeanyi Ubah, also
decamped to the APC. Today, Hon Oluwole Oke from Obokun/Oriade constituency has
also decamped.
“All these people — do they have any problem with the EFCC
or ICPC?”
On Wednesday, Sheriff Oborevwori, governor of Delta state,
defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
“We came to the inevitable conclusion that moving out of the
PDP is very, very necessary for us to be able to collaborate with our kith and
kin and build that state that every Deltan will be proud of,” Charles Aniagwu,
Delta state commissioner for information, announced.
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