APC crisis: We may go the way of PDP, Buhari warns
Asks aspirants to debate policies
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may suffer the fate of the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if leaders and followers allow “competing egos” to divide them. The party is currently enmeshed in a leadership crisis in various states across the country because of the battle for its soul.
The president, in a statement issued yesterday by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, cautioned APC leaders and members to desist from name-calling and backstabbing ahead of the oncoming March 26 convention.
He urged them to remain steadfast and maintain unity if the party was to continue in the path of victory and its dominance at all levels throughout the country.
He expressed concern that ahead of the convention, candidates and their promoters for party offices were not so much debating policy differences but differences of management, personality, character and suitability for the most important leadership roles in the country.
The president, who is on a medical trip to London, told the members to look at the once-powerful, ‘’main opposition’’ PDP and learn lessons in disunity, mismanagement and corruption.
He said, ‘’They failed in 16 years in power and as opposition. Yes, we are entitled to our own share of dissent and intra-party discord. These are common in all parties, left and right all over the world.
‘’But parties splintered by competing egos destine themselves to the worst possible fate.
‘’As the country prepares for the long run up to the 2023 presidential election, we all expect a robust debate on the issues that matter, and what is going in the APC should be a reflection of this, not the infighting we are seeing. There must be no more distractions ahead of the convention to choose new leaders.’’
The president said the APC was proud of the fact that in its short period of existence, it had won two general elections decisively and despite losing a few states in 2019, it “steadfastly” expanded its pan-Nigerian outlook with significant defections of the opposition governors and parliamentarians into its fold.
On media coverage, the president said, “It is equally clear that over the last week or so, the internal management affairs of the APC have been afforded generous media coverage, over and above its importance to the voters of Nigeria.
“It is important to ask what benefits the poor are getting during the period of intense negative coverage. When precisely the party’s convention is held, who is the party’s chairman is hardly a matter for the average voter. More important is who convention delegates will elect as the party’s flag-bearer in the coming weeks to take forward the party’s platform to the people in the general elections in February next year.
“It is, therefore, important for the media to put such matters into perspective. No one is debating policy differences here. That is for the general elections. None of the declared aspirants and any of those that may step forward will change because of who may be in the party in the chairman’s seat. It is essentially the same party.
“Of course, the media is welcome to comment on the content of the character of the potential APC candidates; discuss their suitability for leadership; scrutinise their offer to the membership. But to focus on the routine internal divisions and magnify them into what they have become today is a waste of everyone’s time, amounting to no more than a discussion over seating arrangements.
“This is not what Nigerians talk of in their communities. They have an inclination only for things that matter.”