The new opposition party, the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) came under criticism from the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, over the weekend who accused them of contributing to the problems facing the country.
Moro made this statement while speaking with journalists on Saturday at his Okungaga home in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, criticising those who had served the country in various capacities in the past for their inability to provide infrastructure that could have placed the country among developed nations.
He said among the past leaders were members and leaders of the APC who he added failed to fix things alright when they were in position. He stated that their failure had retarded the growth of the country, an anomaly he said the current government was battling to correct.
“If you look at the characters of persons that are in the APC, you will want to ask yourself some fundamental questions; are they new persons? Are they angels from somewhere that have not participated in the ruin that Nigeria is today? There is no single person there that has not been an active participant in the political project of Nigeria,” Moro stated.
The minister, went further to accuse the APC of lack of vision and mission for the country and its citizens, said it was not enough for its chieftains to “gallivant across the country, hoodwinking Nigerians as if they are angels that possess the magic wand that could solve the problems of the country.”
He referred Nigerians to America and Britain where he said their past leaders, rather than criticise their successors, give them the opportunity to prove their mettle and expressed regret that in Nigeria, the reverse has been the case.
He said past leaders, like retired General Mohammadu Buhari, who he said was intolerant of opposing voices, now seemed to champion the cause of the opposition.
Moro also expressed surprise at the manner he said the office of the president was being denigrated by members of the APC and described their actions as ridiculous, “since it is same office the party is fighting tooth and nail to occupy in 2015.”
The minister said Nigerians would not be fooled by “the metamorphosis that brought about APC,” insisting that Nigerians had experienced such antics in the past.
“We have seen it before. We had All Peoples party (APP) before; we had All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP); we had the Alliance for Democracy (AD) before, we had ACN; the same characters, he said.
On his purported ambition to contest the governorship seat in his state in 2015, the minister said he was currently saddled with the onerous task of securing the country, a responsibility upon which he said he was not prepared to disappoint Nigerians and the president who considered him capable of carrying out the task.
He said there were myriads of problems facing the country, a development he said had made it difficult for him to be distracted by an election that was about two years ahead, stressing that if he was to contest, he would want to contest to win and not to lose.