Defection: Your Intervention Too Late, R-APC Tells Buhari

The Reformed-All Progressives Congress on Sunday said it was too late for President Muhammadu Buhari to start dangling juicy carrots before its members in order to stop their defection from the ruling APC.

The R-APC, which stated this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kassim Afegbua, took a swipe at the President and the APC.

The APC faction stated that the Buhari government was not a promise keeper because it had not fulfilled what it promised Nigerians during the electioneering in 2014 and 2015.

In the last one week, Buhari and the APC had intensified efforts to prevent the defection of the R-APC members.

Sunday PUNCH had exclusively reported that the APC had in a last-ditch effort to stop the defection of the R-APC senators and members of the House of Representatives, offered the lawmakers automatic tickets to contest the 2019 elections.

According to the report, R-APC lawmakers will defect on Thursday, if the APC does not put the promise of the automatic tickets they are being offered in writing.

Also last Thursday, Buhari met with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the Presidential Villa, where he was reported to have pleaded with Saraki not to leave the APC.

The ruling party was reported to promise Saraki that he would retain the senate presidency in 2019.

The R-APC, in its statement, said despite the initial arrogance of the APC leaders they had been pleading with its leaders not to defect.

It stated, “We, members of the R-APC, find it very amusing that those who boasted that they won’t lose sleep over our altruistic action, have been hopping from door to door pleading with our members not to leave by dangling juicy carrots and promising them heaven and earth.

“Such level of double standard is the reason why the R-APC was birthed in the first place because the leadership is not one that keeps promises and it’s the reason why no one should take the APC seriously.”

The APC faction said that it was surprised that the President had been holding meetings with Saraki, “reportedly promising mouth-watering offers; the same leader who was ridiculed, scandalised, demonised, criminalised and called all sorts of names by agents of the Presidency just to give the Senate President a bad name in order to hang him.”

It added, “As soon as the Supreme Court gave a resounding verdict on the trumped up and frivolous charges against the Senate President, Mr. President suddenly felt a need to praise the judiciary for standing on its own. Power as they truly say, must be a crazy aphrodisiac.”

The R-APC noted that never had the number three citizen of Nigeria been so dehumanised, criminalised and disgraced while  those who just started reconciliation  “kept conspiratorial silence, waiting for the sledge hammer to fall on the Senate President.”

It said that  the government tried all tricks, mounted all manner of pressures, raised all dubious allegations, just to nail the Senate President.

The R-APC stated, “They were short of calling him a promoter of armed robbery. They linked his name to the Offa Robbery and improvised all bile to rubbish the institution of the legislature.

“They stripped him naked in the marketplace and now desperately trying to bath him with ornaments in the inner fortress of Aso Rock.”

The group alleged that the Code of Conduct tribunal displayed magisterial arrogance in prosecuting the Senate President, but the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment gave Saraki a clean bill of health.

The R-APC stated, “All the political conspirators in the APC swoop into dubious reconciliation assignment, hopping from door to door at the thick of the night to strike deals of reconciliation. Those who said they won’t lose sleep over the R-APC have become sleepless in the last two weeks.

“Does anyone need to be reminded that caveat emptor should be the operative word? Those who pleaded in the past, short of kneeling before their subordinates, ended up in the political belly of their benefactors when the re-election was concluded. It is an albatross that some people are still carrying till date.”

APC govt not a promise keeper – R-APC

Berating the Buhari administration, it stated,  “This government is never a promise keeper and some of the promises contained in the manifestos of the APC have been jettisoned.

“The President, who has held himself in the inner sanctuary of the Presidential Villa is all of a sudden, opening his doors to one meeting or the other all in the name of re-election.

“Just to make the point that it is too late in the day; the train has left the station. Leopards cannot change their spots no matter how much one tries to tame them.”

The R-APC urged its members to remain steadfast and resolute in defending their rights and taking the appropriate action in defence of democracy.

It stated, “This democracy must survive on ethical grounds and not on lawlessness and exclusion. It must provide a level playing field for all participants. Those who prevented some persons from visiting their states in the name of politics have suddenly realised that they need the services and support of those persons.

“They are now pleading; ready to submit to all demands. Who does not know that won’t work because examples have shown that political agreements are often observed in the breach.”

The group told its   members nationwide that it was still maintaining its stand against the APC “and no amount of carrots, intimidation and harassment can dissuade us in our shared commitment to rescue this democracy.”

However, there were indications that the APC on Sunday met with the leaders of the R-APC, including Alhaji Buba Galadima.

A top member of the APC, who confided in one of our correspondents in Abuja, said the APC delegates led by the National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, met Galadima at the residence of a former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, very early on Sunday.

The aggrieved members of the APC had after the national convention of the party formed a faction they called R-APC. They had alleged marginalisation and injustice by the APC against them.

But Oshiomhole had in an interview with journalists said there was no faction in the APC.