Ganduje: South East’s Cry of Marginalisation Controversial
*Says APC’s revolution will liberate region
*Insists Oyo party members must reconcile to recapture state
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has described the cry of marginalisation by the South East as controversial.
Ganduje stated this yesterday in Abuja, when the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, led Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who just defected to the ruling party to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
The chairman described Ubah’s defection to the party as the “biggest fish” he has gotten.
“This is the biggest fish I have gotten. Marginalisation is controversial. Let’s see what is happening in South-east. With the five states: three states are controlled by different political parties. We have PDP, Labour Party, APGA and remaining two, APC.
“Now, a geopolitical zone with five states controlled by four political parties. Is this a sense of unity? Is this a sense of collective decision in order to participate in national politics? No! Now we have started seeing the answer.
“We will start a revolution. Already, we have two states in the South-east and with this timber and calibre, juggernaut, I think we have found the answer. Answer liberating the South-east geopolitical zone.
“We thank you for coming. I describe him as a swing politician because wherever he is, that party wins. And we expect this swing will swing throughout the South East especially to the other three states that don’t belong to APC,” he said.
Earlier, Akpabio said their visit was to intimate the chairman that the number of APC senators had increased
He said: “This time around we are bringing a political timber in the Senate to you. It was very difficult to convince him to join the train. Here is the man that survived the tsunami in the South-east when the Labour Party was deceiving Nigerians.
“He is not just coming with YPP alone, he is also coming with the timbers and calibers of the old party that used to be in charge of Nigeria, one of them is a former Senate President.
“Like they used to say during the civil war that the South-east has fallen; South-east has fallen and is fallen into APC. So, the man that comes will be the torch to lead the southeast to the national politics of Nigeria.”
Ubah, on his part, said it has always been difficult for the Igbo people to key into the national party because of sentiments and emotions, and assured them that he would deliver for the party in the region.
Meanwhile, Ganduje, yesterday, said the APC must recapture Oyo state.
The chairman stated this when Oyo APC stakeholders led by their chairman paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja
He said there was no doubt that the issue of compensation was very important and assured them that he would take the issue up with President Bola Tinubu.
Ganduje blamed the division with the Oyo APC on internal crisis, saying the problem was heightened during the APC presidential primaries.
“I think from what I have studied, that is the beginning and then led to the primaries for the gubernatorial election and then and then the presidential election.
“Because we want to recapture that state, we must all come together. Those who left the party to come back to the party, those that are still in the party to reconcile. I think that is very important.
“We will look into the problems, so that you come back as one solid bloc of APC. So, there are two issues from what I have seen. One, is the issue of compensation and another issue of forming a solid Bloc APC.
“I have been trying to see what formula we can use. You know if you are solving a problem you need a formula — simple arithmetic, algebra, quadratic equation. We are still looking for the right formula to apply in order to form a solid bloc of APC,” he concluded.
