The National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has debunked claims in some quarters that the former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, is being tipped for the post of the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of All Progressive Change (APC).
Mohammed, who was indifferent to the purported APC membership of Babangida or his membership of any of the other existing political parties, said the rumour was being peddled by “political professional rumour millers”.
The ACN chieftain spoke with reporters Wednesday at his Oro country-home in Irepodun Council Area of Kwara State.
The ACN spokesman, who bankrolled an Islamic yearly prayers and distribution of Ramadan gifts to Muslim faithful in his community, said it would have been a difficult decision for the APC to determine who would be its BoT chair when the party in question was yet to be registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, “Nigerian rumour-mongers are the most active in the world. Imagine, a party yet to be registered, yet to have its convention and without any guideline for primary being given BoT chairman. I am not aware of Babangida or Abubakar Atiku joining the APC.”
He expressed optimism that INEC would soon register the APC, absolving the electoral body of any complicity over the seeming delay in the party’s registration. Besides, he described the APC experiment as unprecedented in the nation’s political history.
“In the history of Nigerian politics, there had never been any merger of political parties. The best had been alliance. We will need time to make it perfect. Just last week Thursday, INEC came to inspect our office. The electoral body examined the titles of the property as well in order to ascertain the owners. So we are waiting for the INEC,” he said.
He believed that the party had weathered the most sensitive storms at its inception, especially in the areas of name coinage, symbol adoption and manifesto, adding that the party rather than declining could only be waxing stronger.
On the 2015 polls, he noted: “2015 election will not be about one party replacing the other. It is about how to avert another civil war in our country. For instance, if you go to the North-East of Nigeria today, it is as if that is not a part of our country.”
Reacting to why his party, a leading opposition group, has failed to offer constructive criticisms that could assist in curbing the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the ACN leader said the issue remained a very sensitive one.
According to him, “our party has refused to comment on Boko Haram because of some people who have labelled it an Islamic party. These people do not know what is happening within the party at all. At present, I think 18 of our officers are Christians while 19 are Muslims.
“But seriously as a party, we are not saying there might not be religious undertone in the activities of the Boko Haram sect, but joblessness, corruption and economic hardship have created market for the members of the group.
“In fact, it’s a time bomb that is waiting to explode. If we don’t tackle this on time, nobody will be saved in Nigeria. We need to calm the restiveness of our youth.”
