APC will enshrine true democracy, Says Buhari
Former military Head of State and one of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has said that the party will strive to follow democratic tenets in all its affairs.
Buhari, who was a guest at a personality programme at the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio, said the APC would bring about true democracy in the country.
Incidentally, one of the charges people have against the leaders of the new party, Buhari and Bola Tinubu is that they do no have history of following democratic process in their former parties.
Buhari said that since 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed without a shot being fired, he had been convinced that multiparty democratic system is superior to any system of change.
“All we are fighting for is to have proper democracy. What I mean is that whatever people say, whether they reflect briefly on it or not, Nigerians are now well aware of their right and what they expect from government,” he said.
“In APC, we have to secure this country and manage it properly. I think people have suffered enough, they are now prepared to listen and I believe they are listening and are cooperating.”
“We have been convinced that since 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed without a shot being fired, that multiparty democratic system is superior.”
He noted that “there is an important barrier. Elections must be free and fair. We have been to court three times in 2003, 2007 and 2011 not because we were convinced that we were going to win.
Buhari said: “We went because we want to make sure that this multi-party democracy takes firm grip on Nigerians. If we can come and go, the system will be strong enough to guarantee security for this country and guarantee prosperity for this country. This is our objective.”
Apparently condemning the recent arrest of el-Rufai, Buhari said: “You cannot deny citizens their rights to express their own opinion or you allow some people to brazenly threaten the cooperate existence of the country and instead of inviting them and asking them to explain themselves to the nation, they are given a ride in presidential jets.
“When others do it, you go and lock them up or you harass them. That is not the way to do things. For example, when the seven governors decided to break out from the PDP and we went and visited them; five of the governors took the risk.
“One of the governors still have problem with the police, his children were arrested, the bank officials that transacted business with his children were locked up. Those are children of governors.
“You can imagine what will then happen to children of ordinary Nigerians. There is this problem of insecurity in the land, both physical and material which the APC is about to whip out God willing.”
He called on Nigerians to come out and register with the APC during the registration exercise scheduled, adding a committee is expected to go round to ensure the success of the exercise from the ward, local government, state and national levels.
Speculations about el-Rufai’s governorship ambition was given credence yesterday with his posters indicating his interest to contest the governorship race in Kaduna State come 2015 on the platform of the APC.
Meanwhile, the crisis rocking Kaduna State chapter of the APC deepened yesterday as members of the party loyal to the erstwhile interim Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, protested his resignation in Kaduna.
Baba-Ahmed had at the weekend resigned his position over alleged highhandedness by the party's national secretariat.
Some of the lawmakers both from the National Assembly and the state House of Assembly had earlier passed a vote of no confidence on him, accusing him of high handedness in running the affairs of the party. Baba-Ahmed in his resignation letter addressed to the state secretary of the party, Dr. Mohammed Tahir, accused the national leaders of the party of acknowledging that they exist in the states.
'My person and position has been made an embarrassing and distracting issue by a few CPC legislators who wanted things done their own ways. I will always be grateful to the vast majority of the interim committee Members (IMC), members, including many fellow former CPC members for standing by me during these trying times.
'I am grateful to the members of the defunct CPC for nominating me as an elder into the IMC, from which I was unanimously elected twice. In spite of all manner of provocations and subversions, we remained focused, yet our leaders have failed to resolve an issue which until now was merely casting our
'I very much regret that my person has been made such an issue that it could cause further damage to our great party. I am reluctantly having to resign from the position of state chairman with which you trusted me.
'I pray that you will find a way to continue to build a state party structure which is not treated as a personal property, but an asset for our members, and veritable means of bringing real change in Kaduna state and Nigeria,” Baba-Ahmed said in his resignation letter.
However, yesterday some of Baba-Ahmed’s supporters protested the resignation, saying it was unacceptable.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Dr. Mohammed Tahir Attahir, told journalists in an interview in Kaduna that members of state management committee of the party would never accept the resignation, alleging that some few legislators were subverting the leadership of Baba-Ahmed.