Presidency defends ex-PDP members in control of APC after convention

The Presidency has justified the emergence of former key members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as officials of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Daily Trust had reported how ex-PDP Chieftains, including Senator Abdullahi Adamu, took control of the ruling party.

In a statement on Sunday, Malam Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said the stage is now set for the APC primary elections.

He said the unity displayed at the convention has placed the party on a firmer footing for victory in the 2023 general elections.

“The APC Convention hosted this weekend sets the scene for an APC victory in the presidential and general elections next year. It is a victory over naysayers who believed the party was divided but are now disappointed.”

“The good voters of Nigeria can see through such acrobatics and know the facts that, when the contests for 2023 come, APC offers a track record of success and leadership, while the opposition has only decades of failure and complicity in response.”

Shehu blamed the opposition for the mindset of division in the APC, stressing that “in all these years” they “had done the work to only divide the country, leading to all manner of separatist agitations. But this is not the wish, nor is it in the character of the citizens, as was clear for everyone to see at the Eagle Square.”

He added that “When their fake news of disunity was undone by the facts, some in the opposition could not help themselves but take to the newspapers and the airwaves to find another way to shore up their reputations.

“That some of the APC’s new leadership were once in the opposition was the new line to take to the media, somehow suggesting that those who have left one party should not hold positions in another. Yet, do the Scriptures not teach us of the virtue of sinners who repent and change their ways?

“What the Scriptures say less is of sinners who repent, change their tune, and then choose to re-sin in full public view by returning to their former ways. “Given that most important leaders of the opposition PDP first left the party before they returned to it, we might expect the media to ensure criticism of them is damning and absolute. It is incredulous that anyone would consider them trustworthy or acceptable candidates for any public office.” (Daily Trust: Excludes headline)