•Falana chides APC leaders for romancing OBJ, others
Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, literally became a Mecca of sorts, as leaders and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) made political pilgrimage to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at his Hilltop residence, on Saturday.
The delegation was led by the party’s Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, former Head of State, General Mohammadu Buhari; former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu; former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ((EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; and the Interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Others leaders of the party in attendance were governors of Ogun, Oyo, Imo, Kwara, Adamawa and Rivers states, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Chief Rochas Okorocha, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Mallam Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso and Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, respectively.
Also in attendance were former governors of Kwara and Borno states, Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Alli Modu Sheriff, respectively; former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Imam; Senator Osita Isunazor and former Speaker, House of Representatives, Mallam Aminu Bello Masari.
The chieftains of the APC had earlier converged on the Oke-Igbein Government House and left for Obasanjo’s house in a white Coaster bus marked OGGH 142, at about 5.40 p.m. They were all received by Obasanjo who was clad in white flowing garment (agbada) and a blue cap to match. They went straight into a meeting which lasted for 25 minutes.
Akande, in his remarks, said they were in Abeokuta to introduce the APC as an opposition party and also to show their support for Obasanjo on the 18-page letter written to President Goodluck Jonathan recently.
He said that the former Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of the PDP was in the best position to write such a germane letter to anyone, considering his wealth of experience about the political landscape of the Nigeria.
Senator Tinubu, who also addressed the gathering, said the party saluted the courage of Obasanjo for speaking the truth about the state of the nation. He said their visit was not to woo Baba, but to tap from his wealth of experience.
“You have come out of tribulation and held the highest position in this country. We are here because of your courage and salient point. Nobody can dispute the fact by saying he has more information than you.
“You have surmounted number of crises. Nigeria is divided more than before. We need to realise a stable Nigeria. We want to encourage you to continue to speak the truth. We have resolved and determined to rescue Nigeria. We want you as our navigator,” he said.
Obasanjo, in his response, added that the issue of Nigeria went beyond party politics. He called on the political class to play politics without bitterness or rancour, as the nation gravitates towards another political dispensation.
The former president said these after a two-hour meeting held behind closed-doors. He commended the APC leaders, saying opposition was an essential ingredient of democracy.
“I regard this as an honour; to come and present your party and tell me the objectives. But let me start by saying that I am a card-carrying member of the PDP. But the politics I play traverse Nigeria, Africa and world in that order.
“I am a democrat and one of the essential ingredients of democracy is opposition. A democracy that has no opposition built into it is not democracy. As an opposition, you are enhancing democracy. You are at home, you are welcome.
“I will just appeal that the politics you play is politics without rancor; without bitterness; with decency; that has Nigeria at heart. I am an incurable optimist about Nigeria. I am totally committed to Nigeria and nothing will divert me from that commitment,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, has described moves by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to woo some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as antithetical to spirit of progressive politics.
Falana, who is seen in many quarters as an associate of the APC, made these scathing remarks in an interview with an online medium.
He said: “Members of the ruling class of all extractions have continued to display sheer contempt for the Nigerian people. Hence, the people are not being mobilised to defeat the PDP in the polls. The APC has no plan to woo the youths who constitute more than 60 per cent of the voting population.
“It is the belief of the leaders of both APC and PDP that the 2015 general election is going to be fixed by the traditional manipulators of elections. This is the basis of the ongoing mobilisation of PDP chieftains, including those who cannot win elections in their own wards. By wooing discredited military and civilian despots who have destroyed the country since 1966, the APC has shown that it is only interested in power for the sake of power.
“I understand that one of the retired generals is going to become the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the APC. This is a case of alienation from the people.
How can APC leaders believe that Nigerians want Generals Obasanjo and Babangida to be rehabilitated after destroying the country? The duo ruled for 20 years and ruined the country in the process.
“General Obasanjo has just confessed that he has been installing incompetent leadership since 1979. And he is not ashamed to make that provocative disclosure.
Has he offered public apology for his maxima culpa before wooing him? The situation is not different in a number of states and local council areas where the new PDP is busy taking over all the structures of the APC. Since the APC is positioning itself to retain the status quo, it cannot become a truly progressive party.”
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