Soji Ajibola, Ibadan
The All Progressives Congress, (APC) has said that the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party,( PDP) is leaving in the past especially his claim to have won five out of the six states in the SouthWest as Director General of Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation in 2003.
Atiku had, on Wednesday in Ibadan at a stakeholders meeting, promised to repeat the successes recorded in 2003, in the SouthWest in 2023.
However, the National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the South-West, Isaac Kekemeke at a press briefing in Ibadan declared South West as no go area for the PDP, noting the credibility of its Presidential candidate, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the party remains strong in the South-West and the party will win more state to its fold in the region in 2023.
Kekemeke said the party has inaugurated Committee of Eminent Personalities headed by Ondo state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu to facilitate m its in 2023.
He said although the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who said the PDP would take over South West in 2023 was in the APC before, the APC would show him that those of them in the party knew the PDP too well.
He assured all aspirants who contested for positions during the primaries of the party that their political aspirations would not be used against them in any way.
Kekemeke urged them to join the rest of the party to work for the success of the party’s candidates in all elections in 2023.
Kekemeke said, “If His Excellency, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential flag bearer of the PDP thinks he knows the APC because he was here, my answer is, many of us in APC knows the PDP more that he thinks he knows the APC.
“Our National Chairman ( Senator Adamu Abdulahi) was a Governor under PDP, he knows PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore, knows the PDP, I know the PDP, I was a pioneer secretary of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the PDP under Chief Bola Ige, Senator Teslim Folarin knows the PDP. One of the reasons he ( Atiku) left the APC is because he couldn’t understand the APC.”
Kekemeke said the APC and its
presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, strongly believed that restructuring Nigeria would engender its development
He said Tinubu had not abandoned his position on true federalism , which be said would make Nigeria to run efficiently and bring development to all the constituent units.
“APC believes that Nigeria should be restructured. It’s not just Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who believes in restructuring of Nigeria. That is the position of our party, APC, that Nigeria ought to be restructured, Nigeria should practice true federalism.
“Our presidential candidate is a democrat and as a progressive, he aligns himself with the position of the party. We can do better with Nigeria by looking at the way it is wrong, by giving more powers to the constituent units and by decentralizing as many issues as possible for effective development,”.Kekemeke said.
