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Can you see any hope as your party is currently enmeshed in crises? The crisis that we see and hear within the APC causes no existential threat to the survival of the party. The APC at the moment is united and it is working together as a family. The APC in terms of size has 16 million registered members. We have 14 organs of the party from the polling unit committee to the National Convention. All the 16 million members of the party, those elected and those not elected, stakeholders; all of these, I can tell you authoritatively answer the name APC. Their identity is APC.

Secondly, all these 16 million people, from the ordinary card-carrying members to the highest elected including senators, house of representative members, house of assembly, chairmen and all elected and nonelected members of the party are all 100 per cent united under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is the foundation I want to lay for you to understand whether there is an existential threat, division, threat or crack or breakup. None of such threat exists in our party.

It appears you are living in self-denial that nothing is happening in the party. How would you explain the bickering in the party?

Yes, that can also be understood if I explain the context within which these things are happening and why we are all united and why we are all loyal to the leadership of the party.

This is as a result of many years of dormancy in the administration of the party. The party’s bureaucracy has not been working effectively to respond to the day to day challenges and demands of members. The office of the national secretary has been vacant for almost a year and a half. The national secretary is supposed to run the day-to-day administration of the party, trigger activities in all the 14 organs of the party communicate and coordinate the party.

That office had been dormant hence; there are pent-up expectations that even rose up to the point of frustration.

To pundits, the rope tying the party’s symbol of a broom is President Buhari and once his administration ends and he leaves, the broom will scatter. Do you see the party surviving after Buhari’s tenure?

There is no doubt that President Buhari is admired personally and respected by all members of the APC as well as Nigerians who have voted him twice. He enjoys not only the loyalty and support of our members; he is a binding force which and a rallying factor. Majority of our members adore and respect him.

Fundamentally, let me say that all the members of this party and all the people who are following Buhari because of what he symbolises. They follow him because of the values he upholds and what he stands for. President Buhari is a man who has been known to be a man of integrity. He is a man who believes in the rule of law, transparency and accountability. All his political life, since 2002, has been focused on advocating free and fair elections and the right of Nigerians to choose leaders they want and to ensure that policies that affect them only are implemented in government.

If you remember, this merger as a result of which the APC was born was formed by radical elements of the Nigerian political elite. The entire political life of the South West has always been a populist politics. Politics focused on the need to address the need of the majority of the people in education, health and so on. This has been since the days of (Chief Obafemi) Awolowo up until now. They have always hated imposition and

President Muhammadu Buhari’s position on 2023 is one of the factors fuelling the crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC). Architect Waziri Bulama, the immediate past national secretary of the party, stated this in an interview, conducted before the National Working Committee (NWC) was dissolved by the National Executive Committee (NEC). Bulama who was the deputy director-general (coordination) of the presidential campaign of the party in 2019, however, said the crisis rocking APC poses no existential threat to it. He is one of those who kicked against the convening of NEC meeting by the Victor Giadom’s camp. Excerpt: political dictatorship. These elements came and met Buhari’s background that is focused on ensuring that the masses vote and their votes count. These radical tendencies with similar commitments brought others to form the APC.

Why I have gone far to explain this, is that Buhari as a person is very influential and very strong and clearly, he is the rope that is tying this broom. But the principles, background and the pedigree our leaders brought to this party are what sustain APC and would carry us forward.

Even if President Buhari goes, and already he has put one of his legs outside by saying, he is not going to run or influence 2023. So already, President Buhari’s position is clear. This is what is propelling some segments of the party in struggling to take control of the party because some elements within the Nigerian political elite see the political party as only within the limited scope of a function of a party as a special purpose vehicle for elections; thinking that if they seize control of the party and without Buhari, they can steer the party in one direction or the other. And this, actually and truly is one of the philosophical and political issues and tensions we are facing in the party. There is no doubt about that. But certainly, the party

Are you saying the crisis in the APC is as a result of 2023 ambitions?

There are various people and groups in the party with different needs and aspirations. There are some who want power, there are people who only want empowerment, and there are those who want influence, employment, respect and acknowledgement. The interests in a party are very diverse and varied.

And when I say these pressures, interests and demands within the 16 million registered members cause no threat to the survival of the party, I am talking with authority. I have not seen threat of breakup of this party. But I have seen pressures, tensions to occupy one post or the other especially calls for why is there no NEC, why is there no this and that? I am saying that all the 14 organs had been in comatose.

The court cases are triggered by some of these interests some of which are political, some personal. For instance, political ambition; someone thinks that if he takes over the party, he can use it for this purpose or that.

For me, a party should function like any well-established institution. When you say institution, the police and army are