Farouk Aliyu is a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. In this interview, he speaks on the opposition coalition against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and why their plan to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027 may fail, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU writes
What do you make of the gale of defections to the APC, the fact that your party may not be able to manage the fortune and Nyesom Wike’s support for APC despite his member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
Governance is about the people. The government doesn’t belong to the APC. The President Bola Tinubu administration belongs to all Nigerians, which means that every Nigerian has a right to participate in the government but when it comes to our issues, the APC as a party, we don’t discuss that with Wike at all. We don’t go into a closed door with him as far as the party is concerned.
The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, recently said there’s nothing wrong with a one-part state. As someone involved in the democratic process, do you think that a one-party state is good for Nigeria?
Definitely, a one-party state is not the best for us. In APC we’re not looking into one-party state. What Ganduje said is his personal opinion. It is not the position of the party.
Even though he is our leader, it is not the opinion of APC that we want a oneparty state. But I want you to note that it is not our fault if anybody runs to APC. We have been in opposition and we stayed in opposition despite all the intimidation until when we became the ruling party.
If members of the PDP or other parties decide to join us, we won’t stop them, it’s their business. But, honestly having everybody join APC is not good for our democracy. Also, democracy gives people the right to say, since all of you are in APC, we won’t vote for APC, we’ll vote for any other party.
So, let this not scare anybody because the people will decide who to vote for. Ninety per cent of Nigerians can decide to join APC in terms of numbers but when it comes to voting, the people will decide who to vote for. So, if Nigerians don’t accept the movement, they have the right to decide when elections come. When the other person spoke about intimidation, can you say, the former governor of Kebbi State was intimidated?
This was the person who defeated a sitting governor. Our sitting governor of Kebbi State was contesting to be senator, and he defeated him. Now he has decided on his own to join the APC. So, if you look at all these, what will you say is our fault? The fault is that they have accepted what we are doing as a government.
We’re also working behind the scene to ensure that they don’t succeed to defeat us as a party. We don’t ignore them, we respect them
to recall these people. If they don’t want these people to go into APC or any other party, they can recall them. The constitution allows that. They can do that before the elections come.
There’s this talk about coalition. How much of a threat do you see the emerging coalition; the one led by Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Nasir El-Rufai to President Bola Tinubu, because they are determined to get him out of power, or you think they’re just making noise?
No. We don’t ignore anybody. They are Nigerians, they have equal rights with us in this country. So, they have a right. So, we don’t take it that they are just making noise.
They are responsible Nigerians, who just don’t agree with what we’re doing as a government. We’re watching them and we are trying to ensure that they don’t succeed because this is politics.
As far as they’re concerned, we’re not doing the right thing, and they’re trying to remove us in whichever way they desire. So, we’re also working behind the scene to ensure that they don’t succeed to defeat us as a party. We don’t ignore them, we respect them.
They’re responsible Nigerians who have contributed in one way or the other to the development of this country. We respect them, we appreciate what they’re doing and that is part of democracy. You don’t have to agree with us. They can continue to meet, while we continue to plan to stop them.
You’re a foundation member of APC; what do you make of El-Rufai’s turn around against the same party that he supported, and against the same person he helped to promote?
All the things he’s talking about President Tinubu and the party deviating from its ideals are simply because he’s not a minister today. If he were a minister, he wouldn’t be talking like that. We’re yet to see this kind of elite walking away from the largess of office.
As far as I’m concerned, I feel that El-Rufai is ranting simply because he lost out. Recall that El-Rufai said all kinds of things about people who didn’t agree with Tinubu to make sure that Tinubu becomes the candidate of the party.
Tinubu got the ticket and won the election but he lost out in the ministerial appointment, Because he didn’t get it, he is unhappy. He shouldn’t pull down the roof just because he lost out. So many people lost out from the system and they’re still with the party. It shouldn’t be about personal interest. He should remember that he served as governor for eight years under this same party.
Was he not the same person who took the party to court, when President Buhari was in government? When he didn’t agree with it? He didn’t resign as a member of the party nor moved to another party, because it was very convenient for him that time. To me, he has just chickened out.
