Members of the Seventh National Assembly elected on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) rose from an emergency meeting in Abuja, yesterday, affirming their support for the leadership of Senator Tanko Al-Makura within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Led by Nasiru Babale Ila, the forum, at a press conference, slammed former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, over his comments questioning the credibility of the CPC bloc, led by Makura, who was also governor of Nasarawa State.

Malami had reportedly argued that the Al-Makura-led CPC bloc in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which openly declared their loyalty to President Bola Tinubu’s group, lacked the authority to speak for the CPC legacy members.

The ex-minister had insisted that only the faction loyal to former President Muhammadu Buhari, to which he belongs, could determine whether or not to engage with the emerging opposition coalition, spearheaded by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the erstwhile governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.

The forum maintained that Malami lacks electoral value to speak ill of the Al-Makura’s bloc, which they added boasts millions of supporters across the federation.

“We, the former elected members of the CPC from the Seventh Assembly and many more, who stood for elections, won and were subsequently robbed of their hard-earned, hard-won, yet short-lived victories, remain the only legitimate and authentic voice of the defunct CPC,” they stated.

A member of the forum and former member of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Gebi, said there was a need for members of the CPC bloc to be accorded their rightful place within the ruling party.

He claimed that while they are committed members of the APC, they cannot pretend that the CPC was marginalised within the ruling party.
Earlier, chairman of the forum, Basiru Ila, declared that Al-Makura remained the leader of the CPC bloc in APC, and not Malami.