.He’ll lose value, says Ganduje’s aide

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: A former National Vice Chairman, Northwest, of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Salihu Moh. Lukman has reacted to the defection of a former Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir el-Rufai from the ruling All Progressives Congress APC to the Social Democratic Party SDP, saying he had expected a bit of patience on the part of the former governor.

Lukman, a close ally of el-Rufai said with ongoing negotiations among opposition elements, he had expected the former governor to await the outcome of such engagements in order for the opposition elements to take a unified stance.

Also reacting to the development, Senior Special Assistant on Public Enlightenment to the APC national chairman, Chief Oliver Okpala said el-Rufai and others who are dissatisfied with the party would lose value in other parties.

He said; “If they decide to join another party other than remaining in APC, then they will lose their political recognition in their villages, local governments, states and zones.

“This is because APC is the platform that brought them into political limelights. The APC is still the party that triumphs above any other party in their zones. If they move, then their followers will see them as spent political forces”.

On his part, Lukman said; “Yes, I am close to Mallam El-Rufai to the extent that we come from the same state and were in the same party. And I had the privilege of being nominated by him to serve in the National Working Committee of APC. Of course, as everybody knows, we have our own disagreements. But one of the clear cases is the fact that the issue of whether Mallam is going to remain in APC or not is a foretold story.

“It is expected even after the interview he granted on Arise TV. You could see the handwriting. But whether it is going to come so soon is what even I couldn’t have said. My expectation was that he should have been a bit patient for us to walk out as a group based on the current negotiation that is ongoing.

“But he knows better and I do hope his decision is not going to become like a kind of break away from whatever we are doing. My hope is that at the end, we should be able to reconcile and work together under one platform”.

Asked whether the SDP will be part of the platform being put together by the opposition, Lukman said; “I think the discussion about whether SDP will be there or not has been an ongoing thing. The challenge is a question of whether SDP will submit itself to some of the conditions that we believe are necessary. What are these conditions? Frankly speaking, unlike most conventional politicians, most conventional politicians who just want a platform where they will present candidates and use it to win elections, there are a few of us who believe the issue is beyond that.

“What Nigerians need is a platform that will promote political competition in the country. If you remember, the problem Nigerians had with PDP is the problem of imposition of candidates. And when the APC came and promised ‘Change’, the expectation of Nigerians is that we will change the culture of imposition.

“Unfortunately, we have failed in that. In fact, it has become worse. If things continue as they are, you can predict that President Asiwaju will become the candidate of APC, and you can predict all the first-time governors of APC will emerge as the candidate of APC, whether they are popular in their states or not. You can also predict all legislators at federal and state levels, whether they have performed or not. So long as they are in the good books of Asiwaju and the party leadership, they will be returned”, he added.

The former Director General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF also spoke about whether he would be willing to join el-Rufai, his long-time ally in the SDP.

“Only if SDP meets the conditions we have set, which I have highlighted. At the moment, they have not met. We are in discussion, no doubt about it. If they meet it tomorrow, fine”, he stated.