*Is APC any different from PDP?*

Source: pointblanknews.com

*By Abba Adakole*
Some commentators have said it times without count that the All

Progressives Congress (APC), the only party of progressives, is another

side of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) coin, but I have often disagreed

without going public with these commentators. However, recent happenings

are giving me cause for concern.
First, it was Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, but I concluded that his case was

good riddance, because I was never comfy with the man, having been named,

rightly or wrongly, as one of those that created the monster that is

ravaging the north east of the country. But in the case of Nuhu Ribadu, I

came to the sober conclusion that something may indeed be wrong with the

APC, or it is really no different from the PDP.
If I had any doubts about the accusation against Sheriff, a recent comment

by APC's All Progressives Youth Forum said it all. It disclosed that it

would hold a nationwide ‎thanksgiving with special Sunday church service in

churches and Jumma'at prayers in Mosques over the defection of former

Governor of Borno State to the PDP.
Chairman of the group, Ismail Ahmed, in a statement, said the group

received news of the planned defection of Sheriff with so much joy, saying

the former Governor's exit from the APC was the best thing that happened to

the life of the party. The Forum said it had conducted very serious

investigations about all the games in trying to attach a bad name to the

APC locally and internationally and “found out that the PDP uses sponsored

commentators in Nigeria to link Sheriff with Boko Haram, rightly or

wrongly, and because he was a chieftain of the APC, it was easy to sell

that to Nigerians using the media.”
But Sheriff himself is singing a different tune in explaining his departure

from the APC and relationship with Boko Haram. 'Our interest should be on

what makes the nation move forward. My decisions will be guided by the

interest of the nation first. My thinking of moving to the PDP is also in

the interest of the nation. We believe that every time, as a leader who

leads people, you should advise them on the right course of action,” he

said.
He added that whatever information he had on Boko Haram with benefit of his

having governed Borno, he had forwarded to security agencies. He said, “I

am not a security man or personnel. Whatever that, as a civilian, I can do,

using my position as the chief executive of the state for eight years, what

I have seen during my tenure I will contribute to the security agencies

through whom I got the information.
'What you have to understand is that this country is a big country and

Borno State is a difficult state from any other state in Nigeria. Borno has

the biggest land mass bordering Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It is an open

border. Borno is not like the Republic of Benin with only one entrance into

Nigeria. In Borno, you can enter from 20 different points into the country.

Therefore, you need a perfect understanding of the terrain. You need

every knowledge that any politician has, particularly any politician that

operated in Borno State. That is all we can contribute for now.â€

What irks most about the APC's Forum position was the strenuous effort it

made to tie the Boko Haram's noose around Sheriff, forgetting that it was

accentuating the argument that the former Senator and Governor put this

group together when he was part of the opposition parties that formed APC.

In effect the group confirmed all the accusations against the APC.

I do not wish to comment about Femi Fani-Kayode who has become more of an

albatross on the party's neck because the party mismanaged the relationship

with him and others. But Nuhu Ribadu's matter disturbs so much, because

like his “former” friend, Nasir el-Rufai, he was a beautiful bride APC

should have done all to keep. Sadly, the Party lost him to the PDP.

From being a presidential aspirant, he now wants to govern his native

Adamawa State, where another of APC's governors, or turncoats from the PDP,

Murtala Nyako, so mismanaged the State he was booted out. In response to

this move Nasir el-Rufai made one of the most blasphemous of statements of

all time against Islam. A loudmouth who should still be in mourning had

this to say on Twitter, 'I will only consider the choice of defection to

the People Democratic Party (PDP) when Satan repents and converts to Islam.

I will consider the option; then reject it.â€
Why APC allowed men like this into its midst must still rankle it. If

el-Rufai is a good Muslim as he claims, then the repentance of Satan into

his religion is not good enough for him? He has again insulted the

sensibilities of Muslims just as he did to Christians a short while ago. It

is known that he joined the APC because he was about to be nailed by his

former friends in the PDP, but must he always speak before thinking? Must

he set the APC up with the Muslims as he did with the Christians? APC

leaders should quickly tell him to reconsider his thoughtless fanaticism or

be shown the way out.
Back to Ribadu! When he said he had left the APC, a statement was credited

to him in which he lashed out at the turncoat governors now giving the APC

sleepless nights. He quickly denied it on his Facebook page, suggesting

that politics was not going to make him lose his friends in the APC, but

this appeared unsatisfactory and they took him to the cleaners, if a

statement ascribed to the Rivers APC is anything to go by.

Apparently looking out for Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the Rivers Chapter

thundered that his defection was a political suicide, and his denial on his

page was not one in the true sense. The Rivers APC went further: “Ribadu's

outburst is very unfortunate and borne out of ignorance of what the

antecedents of Amaechi are. It is on record that during the days of Chief

Rufus Ada George as Governor of Rivers State, he offered Amaechi

appointment as one of his Commissioners but Amaechi declined and instead

nominated his cousin, Sir Celestine Omehia, whom George appointed as the

Commissioner for Education.
“This does not in any way indicate somebody who is hungry for power. While

Amaechi, like Ribadu, has exercised his constitutional right to seek

election as Governor, his feats, which he rightfully attributes to the

grace of God, conclusively prove that he never sought office due to hunger

for power but, rather, in order to render service and make the society a

better place.
“This is in direct contrast to the conduct of Mallam Ribadu, who after

being the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria

in 2011, has now stooped so low to buy PDP gubernatorial form to contest

the governorship of Adamawa State thereby committing a political suicide

and if we still know PDP very well, Ribadu will surely regret this unwise

step in a matter of few weeks. And to think that this is the same PDP

which Ribadu once described as a den of thieves! So between Amaechi and

Ribadu, who should rightly be accused of being hungry for power?”

In this classic case of political brickbats, the APC continues to show the

world that it is a bunch of unthinking politicians that cannot be trusted

six months to elections. The earlier the Party gets its acts together, the

better, else, it is just the other side of the PDP coin. May be the APC

should all collapse into the PDP and save the country the tension it is

enmeshed in. Head or tail, APC and PDP are all the same.

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*Mr Adakole contributed this piece from Abuja.*
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