Farouk Aliyu, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s close ally, has said there was no plans for the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, bloc to exit the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Aliyu, who said he is one of the members of Buhari’s cabal, is certain the CPC bloc within the APC was going nowhere.
He stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, saying it was just a mere speculation.
He said, “It’s not true; there is nothing like members of the defunct CPC wants to move out of APC.
“Our certificate, the certificate of CPC, was part of what formed APC. So, how can we leave? To go where? This is our party.”
The APC chieftain, who was a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, said Buhari did not endorse former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s dumping of the APC.
He said El-Rufai should not bring down the roof because he did not get a ministerial appointment.
Aliyu, however, urged the APC leadership to engage all blocs within the ruling party to whittle competition and strife before the next poll.
“Politics is about engagement. Politics is about the interests of groups, people, and so on. That is what we are saying: engage more; not only with people from the defunct CPC, but even from the PDP. So that in 2027, there will be less competition,” the Jigawa power broker said.
Aliyu said the APC won’t “just sit by and allow” the Atiku Abubakar-led coalition “to take over the government”.
“They are strange bedfellows,” he said, adding that the selection of a presidential candidate would thwart the Atiku coalition.
Recall that in 2013, the Muhammadu Buhari-led CPC, Bola Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, came together to form the APC.