…blame hostile treatment, abandonment by Tinubu govt

Saturday Telegraph can confirm that many former cabinet members as well as associates of former President Muhammadu Buhari, have dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the relatively unknown African Democratic Congress (ADC).

“Most members of the last cabinet of the immediate past government of Muhammadu Buhari have decided to leave the ruling APC for the ADC and that is a fact,” an aide to a former minister, told our correspondent in a telephone chat yesterday.

Apart from former cabinet members, other members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the platform upon which former President Buhari unsuccessfully contested before 2015, are also said to be part of the move.

The source, who pleaded not to be named, said the decision might not be unconnected with what they (aggrieved members) see as deliberate attempt by officials of the current government to portray the last government in bad light.

“Those in the last government are clearly not happy with the way the current government is treating them and the regime that they serve in.

“They’re also angry that many of them have become objects of undue scrutiny by the incumbent government,” the source, who pleaded not to be too elaborate, said.

When asked who the arrowhead is, the source said: “I can tell you that many of the affected former officials have decided that the immediate past Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, should lead them.”

He added that efforts had in the past been made by the government and the APC to wade in and reconcile them but such efforts met with brick wall.

“I am aware that the government had made overtures to them in the past but many of them are unwilling to budge, opting to vent their aspirations in another platform.

“I guess the major problem had been that many of the proposals that the government made to them had not been appealing enough,” the source maintained.

He (the source) further added that the recalcitrance of these elements prompted President Bola Tinubu to dispatch emissaries to former President Muhammadu Buhari with a view to persuading them to soften their stance.

A prominent traditional ruler in the South West was said to have met Buhari in his Daura country home to help call his associates to order.

“I’m not sure of the commitment that Buhari made to him (Tinubu’s emissary) but I know that the shuttle did very little to achieve the desired results,” another source added.

A source within the Social Democratic Party (SDP), told our correspondent that “The ADC is part of the mega party discussions.

“That’s all I can say for now.”