‘Festering APC Crisis Is A Passing Phase’

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state Alhaji Suleiman Yusuf has described the ongoing cold war at the National Assembly as a passing phase in the history of the nation. Yusuf, who stated that the APC as a party of necessity was formed to save the nation from alleged misrule, averred the mild crisis rocking the legislative arm of government, was envisaged, considering the elements that merged to form the party.

Speaking with The Guardian in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, the APC stalwart said a high-powered group had been constituted underground to reconcile all the aggrieved persons, “to promptly enhance the act of governance and restore normalcy to the polity.” For Yusuf, since the government is hierarchical in nature, the events at the National Assembly should and would not in any way serve as a clog in the daily activities of either the states or Local Government Areas (LGAs).

He was however down to earth when he said the issue if left unsettled could negatively affect screening of candidates that might be sent by the executives arm of government to the National Assembly just as he believed that the development could also hinder the oversight functions of the legislators.

“Don’t forget how the APC was formed in the first instance. People with different political ideologies and backgrounds came together to shift the political power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.  So what is happening is bound to manifest, but I can assure you of the resolve of all the identified splinter groups within our party to end the crises,” he noted.

Suleiman, while reiterating on the manifestos of the party and all its campaign promises to Nigerians, believed  that very soon Nigerians would begin to see diligence in governance towards bringing to the manifestation the much desired changes in socio, political and economic sector in the country.

Reacting to insinuations in some quarters of the alleged unpreparedness of the APC to govern Nigeria when it won the general elections against the then incumbent PDP, Suleiman said “the state of the rot in the country and her people deserve patience, if we must move forward as a nation.

“Let me draw an analogy from the concept of farming to drive home this point. A good farmer will not plant his viable seeds inside a bushy land without first cultivating the land irrespective of the urgent needs for planting. Basic principles of farming must be followed if he is ever going to succeed. That is exactly what is happening at present in Nigeria under the leadership of the APC.”

While commending the recent steps taken by the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at resolving the seeming impasse over the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly, he urged other notable leaders of the party to replicate the kind gestures across their respective constituencies in the overall interest of the party and the country.

For him, “there is nothing anybody can do between now and the next four years to change the mandate already given to the APC by the majority of Nigerian voters.

The earlier we realise this, the better for the nation. Therefore, we need to stop all these campaign of calumny against the APC. “The APC will surely survive the present ordeal and come out stronger.

All we need to realise at this stage is that we have an experienced President who had been there before now. Therefore we need patience and not undue criticisms to reach the Biblical Promised Land.”