A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar Na’abba, has explained his decision to quit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said his decision was necessitated by the manner in which the party’s ward and state congresses were conducted.
He added that the nation’s prosperity was at risk with the way the ruling party was being run at the state and federal levels, adding that he no longer wanted to be identified with such.
The Kano-born politician, who was Speaker from 1999 to 2003, made his position known in a letter to APC Chairman of his Sharada Ward of Kano Municipal Local Government.
The letter read in part, “This is to notify you of my resolve to resign from the All Progressives Congress (APC), effective today 5th December 2018.
“My decision to resign from the party follows the cavalier manner in which both the Federal Government, States controlled by the APC and the APC itself are being run, as a result of which anybody who has eyes to see only sees doom and not prosperity for our dear country.”
Na’abba lambasted the party, saying it was characterised by “lack of consultation, crass incompetence, lack of vision, arrogance, and dangerous fixation.”
According to him, the wave of defections that hit the party in the National Assembly recently was a sign of its failures.
“It is a measure of the incompetence of the APC government that after all is said and done, it has lost a Senate President and a Speaker of the House Of Representatives and many others for reasons that border on meanness, lack of simple management skills and capacities and a great measure of arrogance.”
“It is also a measure of the incompetence of the party that there is almost no state in the Federation where there is no conflict.
“While it is generally accepted that no human organisation can be rancour-free, it is disheartening that these conflicts in the party are inflicted by its leaders, some of whom can be said to be poorer in human qualities than the poorest of men.”
He lamented that the party had allowed itself be hijacked by some governors and other powerful individuals, saying this contributed to the rancour within the party in recent times.
He said, “In their endeavour to perpetuate themselves on the system, they not only snatched away the political rights of the people but also blocked all avenues with which and within which they would be held to account.
“Because under these conditions no person can be politically mobile except he becomes a sycophant, it becomes necessary for me to speak up.
“This I did many times, unfortunately only to be met with complicit silence.”
Na’abba, who did not state the party he was moving to, partly blamed President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged poor grasp of party politics and democratic governance.
“He (Buhari) instead prefers to give the country a lethargic and insular leadership informed by grudges, hatred and a general lack of understanding of what democracy and compassion are all about.
“All these masqueraded as war on corruption,” the ex-speaker said.
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