Tag: APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is gaining a strong foothold in Southern Kaduna with the defection of political bigwigs in the zone, the BAT Ideological Group (BIG) has said.

In a statement by the Executive Director, Chief Atoyebi Bamidele, it said the defectors took the right step and were welcome.

BIG, a group of supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, praised the governance style of Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani for reversing the trend where Southern Kaduna was excluded from development while security concerns were ignored.

BIG said: “It is trite that success has extended family and relations while failure is an orphan; that will be a fair attempt at explaining what is happening in Kaduna State with the latest trooping into the APC in the state.

“Southern Kaduna, which used to be a bastion of opposition to the extent that the former administration in frustration allowed insecurity to fester since it couldn’t get a foothold there, has now turned to APC.

“BAT Ideological Group (BIG), therefore, is happy to welcome them to the party with the assurance that they are now part of a big family under the Umbrella of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who will ensure that their suffering and suppression stops.

“That has already started with the approval and sitting a university in the area.”

Assuring them that it was an opportunity to right the wrongs inflicted on the area in the past, BIG commended the Sani Administration for playing better politics than his predecessor.

Read Also: APC accuses governor of impeding court verdict

“Your coming to the party is a testament to the good administrative strategy of President Tinubu and shows that as father of all, he will continue to ensure National cohesion and protect every part of the country as father of the nation.

“We, therefore, welcome those our brothers to the party in no particular order: Sen Danjuma Laar, Hon Godfrey Ali Gaiya, Hon Amos Gwamna Magaji’s (Serving member house of reps Zangon Kataf / Jaba federal constituency, Hon Donatus K Mathew (Member of reps Kaura federal constituency), Hon Henry Marah Zakarieh (Member representing Jaba constituency State House of Assembly) and Hon. Samuel Kambai Koza (Member representing Zango constituency (Kaduna State House of Assembly)

“Others are Mr. Emmanuel Kantiok (Member state Assembly Kaduna Zonkwa constituency), Hon. Ado Dogo Audu (three-time member, House of Reps), Mr. Joseph Chiroma (Retired staff of TCN), Hon. Paul Wani (Former chairman, Kauru LGA), Hon Mikiah Tokwak (Former chairman of Jemaah local government),  Hon. Morondia Tanko (Former state assembly member, Kagarko constituency),  Hon. Timothy Chindo (Former member, Kaduna state assembly), Hon. Shehu Tafarke (Former PDP chairman Kagarko LGA), Mr. Michael Auta (Labour Party zone 3 senate ticket flag bearer in 2023 elections), Hon. Keneth Suwa (Former exco member, NNPP), Hon. Ben Kure (Former state chairman of NNPP), Hon Nuhu Audu (Former NNPP state chairman), Sunday Baba (former vice Jema’a LGA), Isah Ciroma, Labour Party Chairman, Hon. Seth Bakut and Hon Shehu Tafarki, Chairman of PDP, Kagarko LG among others.

“Well done Senator Uba Sani for neutralising opposition in Kaduna State.

“BAT Ideological Group welcomes all of you to our great party and family,” it stated.

• …APC will emerge victorious in 2027

Former Kaduna state governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, and former Senator Suleiman Uthman Hunkuyi, have explained why they, along with other political heavyweights, left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition groups to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

At a grand rally in Kaduna over the weekend, Governor Uba Sani officially received 50 opposition stalwarts and thousands of their supporters into the APC.

Among the defectors were former Governor Yero, Senators Hunkuyi, Danjuma La’ah, and Shehu Sani, along with several former lawmakers and political figures, including Alh. Abubakar Mustapha, Hon. Donatus K. Mathew, and Hon. Amos Gwamna Magaji.

While the rally was underway at Murtala Muhammad Square, former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who was in Kaduna for the PDP North-West Executive Council Meeting, criticized the defectors. 

Read Also: APC chieftain Etta criticizes Tambuwal, says PDP weakening due to misguided priorities 

He accused them of prioritizing personal benefits—what he termed “stomach infrastructure”—over national interest. 

Tambuwal also described the APC as a party lacking focus and responsible for Nigeria’s economic woes.

However, former Governor Yero defended their decision, stating that they joined the APC to contribute to the “purposeful leadership” of Governor Uba Sani.

He said, “Governor Uba Sani has within less than two years brought positive changes to governance. He has initiated a lot of rural transformation projects.

“These are the things we have seen in Governor Uba Sani. He is a leader that listens and carries everyone along irrespective of ethno-religious background and even political affiliation.

“Our coming into the APC will in the coming months signal influx  of other opposition members. And I am sure the APC will be just to all of us and treat us like every other APC members. This will show the people who are still contemplating that, this is the right place to be.

“The APC should know that we are not here to fight or cause crisis in the ruling party, all we want is justice and fairness. Chieftains of our former parties have not left us, up till few days back, they were still reaching out to see whether they could hold us back in the PDP and other parties, but we told them we have made up our minds to join the APC.

“When our former parties failed to hold us back, they are now calling us paper weights, but we are going to show them by 2027 who are the real paper weights.

“We are not going to fight with anyone, but we will contribute our own quota and we are confident that, APC will emerge victorious in the Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections,” he said.

Also, Senator Hunkuyi said, he was moved by the gesture of Governor Uba Sani who went round and reached out to all the people chased out of the APC by the former Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufa’i.

He said, “I am one of the founding members of the APC in Kaduna, but while the journey was going on smoothly, the driver of the vehicle matched brake and asked some of us to drop from the vehicle, we dropped without arguing, but we thank God today that, Governor Uba Sani went round all the places where people were dropped and picked us back into the vehicle,” he said.

Hunkuyi who was the 2023 Governorship candidate of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) stated further that, “Governor Uba Sani succeeded in bringing us back to the APC because he is a just leader.”

Meanwhile, Senator Shehu Sani could not be reached for his comment, even as he was not present at the rally.

Former Sokoto State Governor and leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has faced backlash from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and some of its chieftains for his remarks that no one with a conscience would join the governing party.

During a PDP North West Zonal meeting on Saturday, Tambuwal expressed disappointment over members of his party defecting to the APC, accusing them of lacking conscience and prioritizing personal gain.

He stated, “I believe that no one with a conscience will join the APC. People leave parties for different reasons, but what I have been observing in recent times are defections not based on the interest of the people but on stomach infrastructure.”

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the national publicity secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, berated Tambuwal, describing him as “a notorious and vainglorious party defector” who lacks the moral authority to condemn defections within the PDP.

Morka pointed out Tambuwal’s own history of party defections, from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) in 2007, back to the ANPP, then to the PDP, decamping to the APC in 2014, and finally returning to the PDP in 2018.

The statement reads: “Riled by the gale of defection plaguing his decimated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), His Excellency, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, former governor of Sokoto state and Senator representing Sokoto South, on Saturday, February 15, 2025, opined that the development was only driven by “stomach infrastructure” as, in his warped view, no politician with conscience would join the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

Read Also: JUST IN: APC wins all 34 LGs in Katsina elections

“There remains profound wisdom in the saying that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. That wisdom has clearly eluded Tambuwal, a notorious and vainglorious party defector. Evidently, his comments more aptly characterized his own convoluted record of defections from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) in 2007 and back to ANPP and then off to the PDP, and decamping in 2014 to APC and finally crawling back to PDP, ignominiously, in 2018.

“By his assertions, Tambuwal’s itinerant defections were in chase of “stomach infrastructure”, purely self-serving and without any conscience. A wandering politician like Tambuwal lacks the moral turpitude to comment on the intentions of politicians who have defected from a crisis-ridden PDP to our great Party.”

Faulting Tambuwal, the ruling party noted that contrary to his “jibe, members of the PDP are joining APC, ostensibly, to identify with President Bola Tinubu’s bold economic reform agenda in the face of growing and undeniable positive indications of a resurgent Nigeria.

“Many of the defectors have offered this as the raison d’etre for their defection, quite apart from the fact that the PDP is in a state of bedlam, and is now an unrecognizable shadow of its old self.”

Reeling out the achievements of the APC-led administration of President Tinubu, the governing party maintained that “recently, for the first time in many years, on President Tinubu’s vigilant watch, the country has surpassed its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) quota of 1.5 mbpd. This remarkable feat is attributable to a combination of factors, from vastly improved security to purpose-driven oil sector reforms.

“Similarly, the country has recorded consistent trade surpluses; increased Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs); high yielding stock market; enhanced foreign reserve and numerous other indices of a steadily rebounding economy.

“Instead of begrudging citizens for exercising their fundamental freedom of association, Tambuwal and fellow political villains, like former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, should accept responsibility for the political carnage in the PDP, apologize to their members and maintain a humble and penitent disposition going forward.”

• Don’t allow selfish politicians incite us against Tinubu, Hunkuyi tells Northerners

As Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani received 50 opposition parties bigwigs who decamped to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday, Senator who represented Kaduna North in the 8th National Assembly, Suleiman Uthman Hunkuyi told Northerners, not to allow selfish politicians incite them against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of 2027 general elections.

Hunkuyi, one of the opposition bigwigs who defected to the APC was reacting to the recent utterances of former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, who said selfish politicians should desist because North cannot afford to work against Tinubu.

Hunkuyi commended Governor Uba Sani for reaching out to all the party stalwarts chased out of APC by former Governor El-Rufa’i and bringing them back to the fold of the ruling party.

According to him, “Some selfish people are telling northerners to work against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections, but the North cannot afford to work against the President.

“All of us that started the APC in Kaduna State know that, along the journey, the vehicle was stopped in the middle of the jungle, we were asked to drop and we dropped without fighting them. But, today we have a governor who has gone round to all the points where we were dropped and he has picked everyone of us and brought us back to the APC family,” he said.

Governor Uba Sani while welcoming the opposition stalwarts and about 200,000 other decampees into the APC assured them that in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kaduna State, they will enjoy the same rights and privileges as every other party member.

The Governor, who addressed a mammoth crowd of party supporters at Murtala Square at the mega rally held on Saturday, said that there was no difference between a party member who joins today and the ones who have been in APC ten years ago.

‘’Someone who joins  APC today and the one who was a foundation member 10  years ago, are of the same status. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges.

Sani told the decampees to notify their supporters of the readiness of APC to accept them into the party as their doors are still open to accept more defectors.

According to him, the popularity and acceptability of APC is because of its just leadership at both the state and federal levels, adding that the party has come to stay in Kaduna State, the entire north and Nigeria as a whole.

Read Also: Tinubu will commission several FCT projects in May – Wike

“In the 2027 election, the electorate will vote for APC in all the elections, from top to bottom. At the top, our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be elected. At the state level, the party will be voted for at the gubernatorial, National and State Assembly elections, by the Grace of God,’’ he said.

The governor promised that projects would be executed in all the nooks and crannies of Kaduna State, irrespective of party affiliations and ethno-religious considerations.

‘’Politics is different from governance. We will be fair to all,  whether or not they voted for us because that is the oath of office that we swore to uphold as leaders,’’ he further said.

Sani who argued that leaders are not infallible and are bound to make mistakes like anyone, pleaded with the led to always point out their mistakes to correct them.

The governor reminded the crowd that leaders will be held accountable in the hereafter regarding how they led the people whom God had entrusted to them.

Prominent amongst those who decamped to APC are, former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Muktar Ramalan Yero, Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, the gubernatorial candidate of NNPP in the last election and Alhaji Sani Shaaban, a former gubernatorial candidate.

Others are Senator Danjuma Laah who represented Zone three at the upper legislative chamber on the platform of PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, former National Organising Secretary of PDP and Ambassador Sule Buba, former Nigeria’s envoy to South Korea.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday hinted it was forming a shadow government to checkmate the administration of Abba Kabir Yusuf, which won the election on the platform of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

The plan was disclosed by the APC Patriotic Volunteers, a group within the Kano chapter of the APC, during its meeting in Kano to update members of the group about its activities.

A shadow government, also known as cryptocracy or invisible government, is based on the notion that actual political power resides not only with publicly elected officials but with private individuals that can exercise power behind scenes beyond the scrutiny of democratic institutions.

Like in the United Kingdom, each Minister of a cabinet has a corresponding shadow Minister appointed by the opposition that scrutinises the work of the UK cabinet.

The National President of the APC Patriotic Volunteers, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, on Saturday said: “Plans are underway to form a shadow government due to the failure of the Yusuf administration to put Kano on the right direction.”

Briefing reporters after the group’s meeting, Alhaji said the group is planning to assign its members to all the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to monitor their activities and make “constructive criticisms” that would prompt the government to do the needful.

“This is what is obtainable in UK where we see opposition parties form the shadow government to checkmate the incumbent one.

“We are going to do it in Kano by assigning our members at MDAs to monitor their activities and come up with a report.

Read Also: Defections from PDP driven by ‘stomach infrastructure’ – Tambuwal

“We are planning this and we will soon address a press conference to inform the general public about this move,” he said.

Alhaji informed the APC Patriotic Volunteers, which has 60,000 members across the 44 Local Government areas of the state, has commenced online registration exercise in a bid to expand the membership base, targeting 1 million membership before 2027.

He explained that to achieve the 1 million support base, the the group is now targeting 200,000 members through the online registration.

“Each of this 200,000 members, would produce five members, making it 1 million by 2027 to vote for APC and its candidates during the general election,” he said.

He said the APC Patriotic Volunteers, which was registered 10 years ago by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and other relevant authorities, emphasises on loyalty to the party and its supremacy.

According to him, the group is created to promote internal democracy within APC and good governance in government.

“We equally resolved to make good use of the media platform campaigns through the recently constituted media committee under the able leadership of Mallam Saleh Abubakar Kwaru.

“The committee is to embark on media onslaught to enlighten and mobilise members of the public on the desirability of emphasising merit, experience and competence in endorsing anybody for elective position or appointment.

“The association also agreed to emphasise on issue-based campaigns to be the basis of choice of people into elective positions for full democratic dividends.

“In the same vein, the APC Patriotic Volunteers endorsed and fully support the candidature of Hon. Dan’azumi Gwarzo as the APC Kano State Chairman in the upcoming congresses of the party. This of course include supporting fully and encouraging other willing members that are desirous of contesting any party position at all the levels.

“It is part of our resolution as a way of mobilisation aimed to reach out to other bodies or groups with similar objectives for synergy and collaboration.

“Good citizenship, good governance, rule of law, patriotism e.t.c remain our advocacy to conform with international standard conventions and norms for entrenching these ideals.

“The spirit of volunteerism through improvement of freedom of speech, association and movement, principle of merit for sustainable development, loyalty to the party and supremacy of the party through good internal democratisation process remain the norms,” Alhaji added.

The group commended President Bola Tinubu for his efforts in revitalising the economy, adding that the prices of food commodities and fuel were going down, which will subsequently stabilise the economy.

The APC Patriotic Volunteers also praised the National Chairman of APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, for “delivering well” in his responsibilities which has made many opposition members to continue to decamp to APC.