4 months ago
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The National Publicity Director of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bala Ibrahim, has said the party is not disturbed about the meeting between the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recall that Obi held a closed-door meeting on Monday with former Vice President and the 2023 PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Abuja.
Obi also met separately with a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Speaking with The Punch, Ibrahim said the ruling party was not intimidated nor would it lose sleep over the meeting because it is inconsequential.
Ibrahim jeered at the speculations that the LP and the PDP might be planning a merger to wrest power from the ruling party in 2027.
The APC stalwart said both parties are increasingly losing grip and support and are probably in a panic situation.
He said, “In a democracy, meeting of politicians is not forbidden. Parties, people and politicians can meet to decide what to do politically and democratically. As long as their meetings are not designed to derail democracy, there is nothing wrong with that.
“The PDP, Labour Party and others together were the same parties defeated by the APC. The ruling party took them to the cleaners where the president scored the highest votes. They are free to meet. But as they are meeting, so is the APC with a view to strengthening our support base to woo more people, based on the dividend of democracy extended to them by the president and our party.
“Obi’s meeting with Atiku and others is nothing to make the APC lose its sleep. You talked about the party being under pressure. How? These are parties that are increasingly losing grip and support. They are probably in a panic situation. Now, they want to sit and look at what to do with a view to increasing their support base ahead of 2027. But that is too long a time to go.
“This is also not to say we are going to be sleeping between now and when the time comes. We don’t talk about crossing the bridge until we get there. By that time, if they feel like coming out to merge, that will even be better for democracy. But whatever they resolve by 2027, we are going to beat them hands down.”
Ige Olugbenga is a fine-grained journalist. He loves the smell of a good lead and has a penchant for finding out something nobody else knows.
