•Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru
Despite washing its hands off the crises rocking opposition parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday expressed happiness that the opposition is in disarray and getting weaker.
National Secretary of the ruling party, Ajibola Bashiru said a chat on Television Continental (TVC) that nobody should hold the APC responsible for the crisis in all the opposition parties in the country.
Bashiru, who said the parties suffer from self-induced crisis, spoke a day after the APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka chided former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and one-tme Anambra State Governor Peter Obi for accusing the ruling party of muzzling opposition voices, reports The Nation.
The duo lost the 2023 presidential poll to the APC standard bearer Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Atiku specifically alleged that President Tinubu gave N50 million to opposition leaders to destabilise their parties.
They were joined by former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in accusing the APC of being responsible for the crisis rocking the parties.
Bashiru, expressed surprise that such an allegation can come from El-Rufai whom he recognised as not just a member but a leader of the party.
Querying El-Rufai, a former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, the APC National Secretary said: “As a leader of the APC, should he not be happy that the opposition to his political party are not getting themselves right? Is it APC that went to Wadata today to cause crisis?
“This is a competition. Let me give you an instance. I am an Arsenal fan, if Man U or Man City is not doing well, should I not be happy? Should I be the one to tell them to get good players? Should I be the one to tell them to get good coach and develop better tactical capability?
“As a political party, our concern is to win election for people who fly the flag of our party. So, as far as other parties are concern, let them get their acts together. If they don’t get their acts right, how does it concern our party?
“Our job as a political party is to win all elections and present candidates to win such elections. So it will not be that when some other political parties are enmeshed themselves in crisis, which atimes is self-induced.”
Bashiru further asked: “Is it APC that ask some people to gather in the sitting room of a governor to purportedly remove the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP) Abure? Is it APC that went to court or is it APC that is the Court of Appeal that reinstated Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party?
“Is it APC that is trying to create division within the rank and file of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP?
