Interim national publicity secretary of the yet-to-be registered All Progressive Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has expressed apprehension over the 2015 general elections, saying it will not be about change in political leadership but about the continued existence of Nigeria as one country.
Alhaji Mohammed, who is also the spokesman for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), also said the opposition party has restrained from making further comments on the Boko Haram insurgency due to the mischief of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking with journalists at his Oro country home, in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, on Wednesday shortly after the seventh annual Lai Mohammed Ramadan Lecture, Alhaji Mohammed said there was need for caution and sacrifice on the part of political leaders to ensure 2015 election does not spell doom for the country.
“The 2015 elections will not be about one party replacing the other or about one president being replaced with another. 2015 elections will be where Nigeria will continue to stay as one country.
“It will be where or about how do we avert imminent civil war again. That is why the leaders of APC must be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to rescue Nigeria.
“In Nigeria today, there is a low burning war. The entire North-East is like it is not part of Nigeria. The insecurity in the North-West is palpable. Why the ACN has restrained itself from making further comments on the Boko Haram insurgency is because of the mischief of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others to label us an Islamist party. That is completely untrue,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed also denied reports that former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and its flag-bearer in the 2007 presidential elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were jostling for the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the APC, adding that the party had not yet been issued certificate of registration, while the duo had not indicated interest in joining the party.
“I think the alleged jostling by General Babangida, Alhaji Abubakar and others for the BoT chair of the APC is a figment of the rumour peddlers’ imagination,” he said.
We want sincerity of purpose on the part of the opposition governors and house members and give good alternative,let them stop these jamboree,looting,deceit and face real governance.stop collecting the annual #3b. Security vote,remove the sycophants on their payroll as special advicers,senior special advicers etc,stop using private and chattered aircraft and come down to the unmotorable roads they have refused to build,make input to inec on independent candidates to broaden the space for likeminded technocrats without much finacial backing and not just making noise with double mouth.