The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has reminded the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general election, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, that seeking refuge in the ruling party will not prevent the alleged corruption charges against him.

Besides, the party insisted it is high time Kwankwaso tender an unreserved public apology to President Bola Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima, over previous derogatory comments, now that he is desperate to decamp.

Addressing a press conference on Friday at the state headquarters, APC Chairman in Kano, Abdullahi Abbas, posited that recent speculation of the impending decampment of Kwankwaso and others is a welcome development.

Abba maintained that though joining a political party is a constitutional right of all, he insisted APC remains the last political refuge for Kwankwaso, having allegedly destroyed his relations with all other political groups.

The APC chieftain, though did not mention the Kwankwasiyya group, declared that the APC will vehemently reject the existence of cult like associations in the name of political activities in the APC.

“We are fully aware that some people are desperate to join the APC because they have scuttled their political goodwill and have become political lepers in the national scheme of things and looking to the APC for relevance,” he said.

“We are also aware that some politicians are trying to run away from accounting for their corrupt misdeeds both in government and party administration, and seeking refuge in the APC to escape from the fangs of a anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC and IPCC. However, joining APC as a political party is not a panacea for escaping from their past sins.

“For the avoidance of doubt, let me emphasize that the APC as a political party does not and will not encourage or promote the existence of cult-like associations in the name of political activities or grouping.”

The APC chair emphasised that he has directed ward chapters to open registers to receive the new decampees irrespective of their political and social status in line with the party’s constitution provision.

He urged the party leaders at the ward, local, and state levels to continue to exercise their leadership functions pending the expiration of their tenure.