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Ongoing Membership Registration Will Strengthen APC –Abdullahi

 Mohammed Hassan AbdullahiMinister of State for Science and Technology and one-time Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Nasarawa State in this interview with select journalists said that without zoning in 2023 , the much desired unity and inclusiveness which the country need to enhance national cohesion would be missed. He also spoke about the ongoing membership and revalidation exercise of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). TONY EZIMAKOR brings the excerpts:

Your party, APC is going through a transformation with the ongoing membership Registration/Revalidation exercise. Some party members have criticized the exercise. How would you assess the process? 

My own personal assessments and with due respect to other people’s assessments, the exercise is going very smoothly. From the angle of my own state, it is going on very smoothly and every stakeholder is carried along and it should be expected that programme such as this is likely to get some controversies in some states where they are factionalised. However, l think that the stakeholders must be able to adopt the spirit of give and take, you mustn’t get everything you want, you must be able to accommodate other tendencies within your own state. So, l think it is necessary that members develop this attitude of accommodating other tendencies that are not likely to be in tune with their own beliefs. But by and large the story is largely successful.

To what extent do you think that the exercise would strengthen the party? 

Well, l think that is even the essence of the registration itself. To ensure that it opens its doors to new members because on daily basis you see defections from other parties to APC. Now it poses a challenge to them because they don’t even have membership, it is closed. So, that is why the opening of registration exercise indeed is very noble, to accommodate other people who are just coming into the part. Now, the advantage you have is that it is like a fresh start so that it can accommodate all tendencies. So, this will enable the party to grow from strength to strength, accommodating both the old and new in a unified struggle to contend this balance of power at the National and State level. I think it is strengthening the party generally and l hope that we succeed.

A former chieftain of the party who said he was there when the constitution of APC was drafted and that zoning was implied. As a chieftain of the party what is your take on this zoning of Presidency that is causing some kind of disagreements between the North and South? 

Well, at the moment l am not privy to the high level discussions in terms of zoning in the party. However on a personal grounds and views, zoning creates some level of accommodation, zoning enables some inclusiveness, and zoning allows every region to have a shot at the highest office of the land. So, with all due respect l think zoning will be very accommodating, it will create unity, it will create understanding within the party. But in terms of discussion as whether there was some arrangements previously, l wasn’t privy to that, l was never part of such discussions and l wouldn’t know anything about that. I think the person who spoke to you might have an information that l don’t have and l guess he knows what he is talking about.

In the next four months the APC would be going for an elective National Convention. What kind of leadership would you be suggesting for the party? 

I think we need a party Chairman that has a listening ear, that would be able to talk to all tendencies within the party; that would be able to be a peacemaker yet be firm; that would be able to ensure that the party’s principles and its objectives are devoid of rancour. I want a party Chairman who tells truth to power. That is the kind of party Chairman that l want. So, in essence we need a broad minded, creative diplomat as much as a firm person as a party Chairman going forward.

The Caretaker Committee is almost 7 months in office, what do you think of them and their leadership of the party? 

You know the difficulty of governance is that from the outside you look at it as a very simple venture but once you are inside you get confronted with practical realities of the challenges within a system. Now, l think the Caretaker Committee initially underestimated the challenges within the party and having come face to face with the realities now, they require some level of tinkering in the initial timetable. So, l can understand the justifications in terms of the tinkering of the time table because of enormity of the challenges that they are facing. So, l think it is to sincerely look at the issues and confront them once and for all before the National Convention. So, l supports what the Caretaker Committee is doing at the moment.

What would be your take on where Nigeria is and where you expect Nigeria to be? 

Well, l told you that in relation to STI – Science, Technology and Innovation – our major problem is attitudinal, our major problem is not embracing services and goods made in Nigeria. Our trust for foreign goods and services is a major challenge. Now, it is the same thing that applies in politics. We don’t define politics in terms of National interest – whether you are APC, whether you are PDP, whether you are APGA, whatever party you are. What is Nigeria national Interest? Whatever we do in terms of differences, we must be able to align our thoughts, our thinking, our attitude towards national interest. If you look at the USA today, whatever happens there is consistency in their National policy, whether its Democrats or Republicans. They will always protect: 1. Capitalism anywhere in the world. They always protect free trade, they always protect National security, the same kind of mindset and attitude they have about China, Russia, whether its Democrats or Republicans that are in government, it remains the same. Now, in Nigeria for instance a simple support, a National cohesive harmonized support for the Nigeria Defence Forces is not there. Whether you are in PDP, whether you are APC or any other party, you have the obligation to support Nigeria Defence Forces in their fight against insecurity, in their fight against banditry, in their fights against insurgency, etc. But what do we have, because today l am not in power, once there is a major victory against the Army, l hail it, l propagate it on the social media. It is so sickening because these members of the Armed Forces are being killed on daily bases. They are not from PDP, they are not from APC, they are Nigerians and they are fighting for you and me for us to be able to sleep well. So, the major problem we have is that in Nigeria we don’t have that alignment in terms of harmony for National interest. Once l am not in power l pray for bad thing to happen to your government, this should not be the case. We have an obligation to support Nigerian Army for instance and in terms of Foreign Policy we also have obligation to harmonize. For example, recently Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as WTO DG and l like what the President did. Irrespective of what political party she represents, irrespective of what part of the country she comes from, her religion does not matter, the President was convinced that among the two candidates she was better materially for the country and he never bothered, he never wavered and he said look, we are supporting her. The African Union came to oppose her everybody came to oppose her but he focused on her that should be our National interest. Whatever party you come from, let us focus for our country to move forward.

The President did the same thing; don’t forget Adesina, he did the same thing to Amina. So, the fact that you are in another party or served another government does not erase the fact that you are a Nigerian. So, Nigerians have a duty to have this alignment of solidarity to National interest. It is very important and that is very likely.

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