A former governor of Jigawa State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Sule Lamido, has questioned the foundation of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), saying the party will not live beyond 2023.
He said the APC would collapse because it was built on hatred for the PDP, adding that it had failed to fulfill its promises and its leaders exposed as liars.
The former minister of foreign affairs further said the PDP would regain power in 2023 because Nigerians were tired of the ruling party.
In a published interview on Sunday, Lamido said the APC brainwashed Nigerians to believe that everything evil in the country was caused by the PDP.
The former governor also criticised President Buhari and the APC leadership for encouraging cross-carpeting into the ruling party, alleging that they had been using blackmail to get members of the opposition into their fold.
“For Buhari to now receive PDP members in the Villa, that is irresponsible. This means corruption; because, to steal PDP’s ticket and take it to another party is the worst corruption ever”, Lamido stated.
Lamido also said the call for restructuring was fuelled by the loss of confidence in the system, bad governance, injustice and nepotism.
Reacting to Lamido’s statement, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, in a telephone chat on Sunday, said the party would not collapse.
According to him, the party is truly national and has recorded significant milestones in the country, adding that it was not founded on lies but the ideals of democracy.
Also reacting to Lamido’s statement that it is not honourable for the president to receive members of other political parties into the APC at the Presidential Villa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that no law banned President Buhari from doing that.
Shehu said the APC attracted leaders of other political parties into her fold through persuasion and promise delivery, stressing that no one is being forced to join the ruling party.
Dismissing the notion that the reception of decampees with mandates of other parties was another form of corruption, he said the APC would not emulate the tradition of the PDP.
