As 2019, approaches and elections are drawing nearer, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have decided to stop hiding their heads in the sand and face the crisis daunting the party.
Many Senators and members of the House of Representatives on the platform of the party have knocked the national leadership of the party saying the APC right now is no better than the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while they were in power before 2015.
One of the APC senators, representing Yobe-East, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, recently gave a damming report of the party saying the party has not done well in the last three years of being in power.
The Senator who was governor of Yobe three times said, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC was in many ways not better than the PDP it defeated in 2015.
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Speaking during a dinner to mark his 70th birthday and book launch at Barcelona Hotel in Abuja on Saturday, Ibrahim revealed that like most Nigerians he had thought the country would change drastically for the better when the APC took over in 2015; but the reverse has been the case for the last three years.
The Senator warned that unlike 2015 when it had a smooth ride to power, the APC had an uphill task of convincing the people of the North-East to consider voting for it because a lot had changed.
“Without mincing words, as an elder statesman, I must say that my dreams and hopes have been dashed.
We have certainly not done what I dreamed we would do and in many ways we are no better than the PDP that we sought to displace.
As we move towards the elections, I have to give a dire warning to the APC. Things are no longer the way they were in 2015 when we rode to power on a cloud of euphoria believing that things will change.
Simply put, things have not changed and many things are worse and the people are bitter. We should not assume that we can win even with massive rigging.” He said.
Although this will be his last term as a senator following a political arrangement to cede his seat to Governor Ibrahim Geidam, the senator admitted that the APC will need to work very hard to retain power in 2019.
“The economy has gone down because of our actions and we are blaming the past too much rather than solving the present problems. I am going to give a dire warning.
Let the North-East not be taken for granted that we must support the APC. Our interest in the North-East has always been progressive and I will personally be watching for improvement in the APC.
Improvements that will guarantee us victory (should) include respecting the rule of law and releasing political prisoners. If we are fighting corruption, let us fight every corrupt person and not select people in what may be seen as a one-sided witch-hunt.
I shall sit back and continue encouraging my party to do the right thing. But if we don’t, I still reserve the capacity to ask my people to go our separate ways and do what must be done for good governance to reign in Nigeria.” He stressed further