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• We’re creating pan-Nigerian party, not one-party state
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Having held many sensitive elective and appointive positions, including the current one as the incumbent National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru has become an authority in party management and the Nigerian democratic system.
Speaking to Sunday Sun in Abuja, Senator Ajibola dispelled the speculations in many quarters that the ruling party is on the trajectory to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, arguing that the APC is on a mission to create a pan-Nigerian political party.
While announcing that the party’s leadership is building APC into a veritable, viable electoral machine for good governance for the Nigerian people, he also commented on what will be the eventual outcome of the next year’s Osun governorship election, announcing that the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, has already started writing his handover note to the eventual candidate of the APC.
Can you dispel the speculation that your party, APC, is on a mission to make Nigeria a one-party state?
The issue of turning Nigeria into a one-party state is absurd for a country that has more than 18 other political parties, and seven additional political associations seeking registration that have been given provisional approval to move to the next stage of the registration process and possible participation in elections.
For us, the narrative of a one-party state is incongruous. The allegation is also a way of trying to gaslight the APC against our continuous mobilisation. As a political party, I have said it severally that we cannot be gaslighted. The job of a political party is to get into its fold as many politicians and people in the country as possible.
So, if our party is growing in leaps and bounds, people cannot gaslight us into talking about a one-party state. As I said earlier, there are more than 18 political parties in Nigeria, including the one that had a circus show in Ibadan, Oyo State, on a convention recently.
Some have even applied and have been given provisional registration. But our own vision, which is the vision of our leader, President Bola Tinubu, is to create a pan-Nigerian political party, which is what we are doing now.
Today, we have 25 governors; we have more than 2/3 majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly, and then we have in our fold eminent politicians and grassroots mobilisers all over the world.
So, our job, particularly our national chairman and I, in conjunction with the President and the Governors Forum, is to continue to grow our party so that we become a veritable, viable electoral machine that will deliver good governance for the Nigerian people.
So, there is no such thing as turning Nigeria into a one-party state. We have not asked any political party not to contest; even in some areas, elections were held. Recently, in Anambra, there was an election, and nobody muzzled anybody.
Our party came second with about 92,000 votes. The so-called coalition of political parties, the three of them put together, did not even get the vote that the Young Progressives Party (YPP), which is an offshoot of our APC, got in that election. It shows that one, there is no agenda not to allow any political party to flourish or prosper if they want to do so.
APGA won the election, and President Tinubu was among the early callers to congratulate Governor Charles Soludo after the election. Recall also that there was a re-run and by-election in August 16 this year, in about 17 constituencies. Our party won a majority of the seats in about 13 or 14 constituencies.
But we lost in Oyo State. We also lost one seat in Kano, and equally lost a senatorial seat in Anambra. So, how is that conducive to the narrative of one party for the country? So, no one can gaslight us, and we will not allow ourselves to be gaslighted.
Our job as a political party is to continue to grow our party. I have repeatedly said that APC is like Jehovah’s Witnesses, which, according to that sect, will continue to propagate and, of course, mobilise Nigerians to give us their votes.
It is also strange that the same people are saying that the 2027 election will be APC versus the Nigerian people. We don’t know whether we that are members of the APC are no longer Nigerians. Maybe we are now Ghanaians, Americans or something like that.
If you have a party that has an overwhelming majority in the government of the Nigerian people, and you are saying it will be an election between Nigerian people and the APC. I think maybe some people’s heads possibly need to be examined to know whether they really understand what they are saying.
But the reality is that APC has become a pan-Nigerian political party. And our strengths are not just in one particular zone. We are strong in the North West, as well as in the North East, we are also strong in the North Central, South East, South South, and South West.
In the entire geopolitical zone, we are the dominant political party. In the South West, we have four out of the six governors. In the South East, we have three out of the five governors, while APGA and LP have one each. In the South-South, we already have five governors out of the six and we are still counting.
In the North Central, except for Plateau State, we have all the states there. In the North-East, perhaps except Adamawa, which will join us in a matter of days, we have others. In the North West, except for Zamfara and Kano states, the others are APC. You can see that the APC has become a pan-Nigerian political party.
If anybody is now talking of the election being against the APC and the Nigerian people, such a person possibly needs a session with either a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
What are the measures in place against APC’s possible implosion, and what are the pull factors attracting people into the ruling party? Or could it be you’re using coercive instruments to tempt and intimidate them?
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I read a very ridiculous report from a blogger, I won’t glorify it with its identity, claiming that the APC is offering N250 billion to governors to decamp into our party, offering N2 billion or so to the senators, and N1 billion to House of Representatives members.
It is very ridiculous, and I find it very strange that anybody in their right senses will even believe such a report. Where will we get such an amount of money as high as N250 billion to offer to the governors?
But why will the governor not join the APC? The parameters are favourable to everybody. No governor needs to borrow money to pay salaries and pensions or to execute infrastructure. Unlike when I was a Commissioner, I know how it works that you either raise bonds or even take overdraft to pay salaries. Today, that is no longer the situation.
Again, we also have a situation where all the other political parties are not being serious about getting their houses in order and putting them in place. As a political party, of course, we will have to benefit from that.
Anybody in their right senses, just as the governor of Bayelsa State said; doesn’t want to be in the PDP because they are not even sure whether their nomination forms will be signed by anybody. Is it not more reasonable to join the APC?
The indices for any political party to grow favour the APC. We have mature leadership. We have unity and amity. And, of course, President Tinubu’s policies are favourable to good governance and for people to join our political party.
As far as we are concerned, the talk about intimidation is not true. Who is intimidating who, by the way? Everybody facing criminal prosecution belongs to a different political party, including our own party. So, nobody can get immunity from criminal prosecution because of their membership in the opposition or the ruling party. That is not the case. Nobody is intimidating anybody.
Everyone joining the APC has a reason for doing so. Like the Governor of Bayelsa stated, his reason for joining is because the Calabar Coastal Highway, which has been topping the shopping list of the Ijaw nation, is now being implemented. He also talked about the Brass Road, which the President is already addressing.
He also spoke about the waiver on import duty for the gas turbine to generate energy. Those are verifiable claims. We also heard the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, when he stated his reason clearly. He talked about the need to connect Ndigbo with the mainstream Nigerian politics, and the fact that the President has been very supportive in the development of Enugu.
So, if a governor is elected for the welfare and security of his people, and he sees a partner, the word used by Governor Peter, in President Tinubu, he has no choice but to do so. Rather than engaging in beer parlour talks or wild allegations, the reality, the fact, and records on why people are joining the APC are there very clearly.
Then, as a politician, why do you want to stay in a political party where you are not sure whether you are going to get your nomination invalidated because of internal squabbles in the party?
What are the measures you are putting in place against possible implosion?
I must say that we are fortunate to have a sagacious leader in President Tinubu, and of course, we also have a very cordial relationship between the party and the Governors Forum on one hand, the leadership and members of the National Assembly on the other. We know the areas where there are usually conflicts, and we try as much as possible to ensure that those conflicts are minimised.
In politics, there will always be conflicts. And one of the measures the chairman of the party and the NWC have done is to set up, even though we don’t have crisis of any magnitude, a standing reconciliation committee headed by no less a person than the pioneer chairman of our party, Chief Bisi Akande, who everybody knows is a person of integrity, incorruptible, and a man of credibility.
We are also going to have a zonal reconciliation committee to ensure that area where there are minor issues are resolved. Then, whatever they cannot resolve will now be sorted out by the National Reconciliation Committee under the leadership of Chief Akande.
And knowing that the issue of party litigation is always the last resort people resort to during a crisis, we are looking at the legal and cultural framework to ensure that such issues do not arise, and even if it does, we will manage it within the framework of the law and the concern of the party.
After conducting a free and fair primary in Ekiti, what is the party promising concerning Osun?
When Ekiti came, we eventually adopted, for the first time, a consensus mode of primary, since there were only two aspirants cleared to contest. The other aspirant withdrew from the governor. And we had to change the mode of primary from direct to consensus. It was witnessed, and everybody saw it.
For Osun, yes, for now, the mode of primary is direct. I am aware that a lot of effort is being made by the stakeholders, like Baba Bisi Akande and others, to possibly see whether the number of contestants could be pruned down, which could possibly result in adopting a consensus option.
But as it was previously, the party is supposed to conduct a free, fair, and transparent primary, whether consensus or not. Part of the process has already started. We have rounded up membership revalidation, because, as you know, only members of the party who are financially up-to-date can vote and be voted for.
And that has already been done. We are expecting reports from the relevant departments, Organising and Finance, to go to the next stage. People have started collecting forms; the timeframe for the collection of forms is already out, and it will end on the 26th of this month.
There will be a screening of the aspirants before we go to the delegates, which will affirm the result of the direct primary. So, we are optimistic that we are going to have a rancour-free, fair, and credible primary election.
Will the APC snatch the ticket from the incumbent governor, Adeleke?
Of course, it is possible. And if it were not possible, why are we wasting our time fielding candidate for the election? We are very optimistic that the record of President Tinubu, and of course, the mobilisation efforts of our party in Osun will be of such magnitude to have made Adeleke to even start writing his handover notes now.
