Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, was one of the five governors that walked, with other chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), out of the party in the buildup to the 2015 general elections to strengthen the All Progressives Congress (APC) that eventually chased their former platform out of power.
In this interview with ABIODUN FAGBEMI in Ilorin, he did not rule out the possibility of a return to the old platform in “the unlikely scenario” of his followers’ insistence. Excerpts:
When you joined others to defect to the APC, you hinged your action on impunity within the PDP. Are you not witnessing it in APC especially when an arm of government took the head of another arm to court on corruption charges?
You see, the way things are going; the system came up with a strong position of fighting corruption with the understanding that it would be transparently done. But we have seen that interest other than pursuing corruption has come to bear and has negatively impacted on the way and manner the fight against corruption is being pursued.
You see, the way things are going; the system came up with a strong position of fighting corruption with the understanding that it would be transparently done. But we have seen that interest other than pursuing corruption has come to bear and has negatively impacted on the way and manner the fight against corruption is being pursued.
Whether you like it or not, APC is still at infancy and in trying to strengthen itself to a formidable outfit that will take Nigeria to the next level, there is bound to be skirmishes here and there.
Yes, it was a practice that we never saw in the past because it was believed that whatever issue at that time should have been thoroughly looked into before going to a place like the Code of Conduct of Tribunal (CCT) since there is a procedure that must be followed. We have seen it done and it has not only strengthened the leadership of the Senate but created a much more transparent platform from which the leadership of the upper legislative chamber should be looked at because it was exhaustively taken through the process and it brought out the picture that it was not as bad as people initially painted it to be.
But with the internal disaffection within the APC, what would you do if your colleagues decide to return to the PDP?
It is an unlikely scenario. But don’t forget that because we run an inclusive system, the followership decides the direction they want us to go. If they insist that they want to us to remain, we remain; if they want us to go, we go. When we decided to leave the PDP for the APC; it was an inclusively designed position.
It is an unlikely scenario. But don’t forget that because we run an inclusive system, the followership decides the direction they want us to go. If they insist that they want to us to remain, we remain; if they want us to go, we go. When we decided to leave the PDP for the APC; it was an inclusively designed position.
Inputs were taken from the ward to state levels before we took the decision we took at that time. But I must tell you that as it is today, we are comfortable with where we are and we have not seen any basis why we should leave the APC.
Are you not worried that the APC may be losing ground to the PDP in Kwara with the outcome of the last council election?
The local government election was a victory for APC. However, don’t forget that it was a grassroots election and issues that define parties at that level are completely different from what defines parties at the state and national levels. More often than not, you will see that little differences, largely acrimonious ones, lead to people changing their decisions when it comes to such elections as council polls.
The local government election was a victory for APC. However, don’t forget that it was a grassroots election and issues that define parties at that level are completely different from what defines parties at the state and national levels. More often than not, you will see that little differences, largely acrimonious ones, lead to people changing their decisions when it comes to such elections as council polls.
But as it is, we are not afraid. We are very comfortable. APC is the ruling party in the state and will continue to be. Yes, the PDP is making some noise here and there, but they are not the kind of noise that will give us sleepless nights because we have always run an inclusive process.
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