In this interview, National Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Ajibola Basiru speaks with KUNLE ODEREMI on the state of the party, planned merger of political parties to tackle the APC, restructuring and the President Bola Tinubu administration.
What is the status of the membership register of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party spent huge human and financial resources on it? It was initially said that the party has more than 40 million members yet the party could not garner such figure at the general election?
The party registration exercise was initiated by our former chairman and leader, Chief Bisi Akande and the National Working Committee at the time. The idea behind the project was to have a biometric registration of the APC membership for proper organisation and administration of the party centrally, enhance internal democracy and have a data-driven political party, the first of its kind in Nigeria’s political history. But when Chief Akande left, Comrade Adam Oshiomhole was expected to carry on with the program and consolidate the gains but was buoyed by the political wrangling and struggle for political power preparatory to 2023. Hence, he was not able to carry the project to fruition. When the caretaker committee that supplanted Comrade Adams Oshiomole’s administration came, rather than going for electronic membership registration, they started manual registration, which I will say does not align with modern development and trends. Yes, it was claimed that our party had 40 million registered party membership, but because it was not electronic, it was not biometric and was not really seen to be the actual representation of the strength of the party. So, what the administration under the chairmanship of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje is doing is that we are revisiting the exercise and leveraging on what Chief Bisi Akande did. We are going to start a biometric registration that will be link with the NIN. The approach now is to have a biometric registration that will now be linked with the NIN of party members with storage in the cloud. This will have credibility and ensure that we have a reliable database that will not only be used to mobilize members but to galvanize the party ahead of the 2027 elections. So, the NWC has deliberated upon this, and we are already talking to the people that worked with Baba Bisi Akande; as soon as the lead consultant returns from Spain, our ICT department will interface with him. Within the new year, we are going to commence the exercise. This will ensure that the possibility of manipulation of elections will be addressed.
If you have a clean registration of 40 million members and unable to garner nine million votes in the last election, any right-thinking person will have a rethink as to what was done before. Without joining any issues with anybody, we are going to have a new membership registration, electronic-based, leveraging what has been done by Chief Bisi Akande’s administration, and link with the NIN which is accessible to the party with storage on cloud. This will ensure credibility and the sustainability of the data. By the grace of God, we would start in the first quarter of next year, 2024.
The main opposition parties are in the process of forging a merger for the purpose of presenting a common front against the APC in subsequent elections. They accuse your party of being on the verge of foisting a one-party state on the country.
First and foremost, this is a four-barreled question. First, there is really no opposition; there are no opposition parties; there is no credible opposition in Nigeria. The PDP has been discredited and that was why it was easy for us to take over in 2015. We sustained ourselves in 2019 and, by 2023 election, it has been totally decimated. One of the zones where PDP used to have stronghold is the South-East. As at today, the APC is doing better than the PDP in the South-East. We have two governors in the South-East, they have one. APGA has one, Labour Party has one. As at today, the party to beat in the South-East is the APC and not the PDP. In the South-South, we now have an in-road in the South-South, In Cross River State, Governor Bassey Otu of the APC is doing fantastically well. In Akwa Ibom, that’s where we have the Senate President. Of course you can see what is happening in terms of massive defection in that state. In Edo State, out of the three Senate seats APC has two, Labour Party has one. PDP does not have a senatorial seat in Edo State. In Delta, we had a challenging election, but we also had a good showing though PDP has controlled the state since 1999. Of course, Rivers State is in transition. We have a caretaker committee seriously committed to the APC in Rivers State. As I speak now, majority of members in the House of Assembly in that state belong to our party, leaving the PDP with two or three seats. I mean it is a matter of time for our party to take over that state. Look at the Bayelsa election, it was keenly contested and our party had a good showing. South-South which used to be another stronghold of the PDP has also changed. In the Northwest, the PDP did not have any showing in Kano. It was between our party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). In Zamfara State, the Appeal Court has ordered re-run in three local governments, we are waiting for Supreme Court decision on that. Katsina, Kaduna are under the control of the APC. So where is the opposition? Labour Party is a flash in the pan. The Labour Party rode on religion and ethnic agenda and immediately after the election, it has been seen that the party is a Special Purpose Vehicle that was used to drive the agenda of an individual that is actuated by ethnic and religion motives to access power in the country. In the off-season elections in the three states, APC won in Imo and Kogi, and PDP in Bayelsa State. Labour Party was not present in those states, so where is the opposition they are talking about that we want to muscle? You only muscle what is in existence. When you talk about merger of opposition parties, who is merging with who? NNPP is embroiled in its internal controversy. The Kwankwaso ascendancy is being challenged thoroughly. They are only in one state and that state is almost an APC state going by the concurrent decision of the Tribunal and Court of Appeal. So, where is the opposition? There is no serious opposition in Nigeria. Nevertheless, we will continue to work hard to strengthen our party ahead of the bye elections and other off-season elections.
Isn’t that indicative of the plan and notion that we are gradually going towards a one-party state?
I am the National Secretary of APC. As the National Secretary, I can only continue to work for my party to have more in-road in areas where we are lacking. It is not my responsibility to begin to strengthen the opposition and build opposition for my party. It is the business of the opposition to go and look at where they have got it wrong to develop themselves. So, why will I join them in crying that Nigeria wants to be a one-party state? So be it if Nigeria wants to be a one-party state!
Are we going to relent in our mobilisation in the South-East because of that? In Anambra for instance, most of the gladiators in that state like Senator Ifeanyin Uba, Senator Ekwunife have publicly declared for our party. In Ebonyi State, gladiators like former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim are going to join our party in an open celebration. People like Olisah Metuh, a leading PDP gladiator in the southeast, is going to join our party. It is not that people are doing what is untowards; but are saying that the leadership of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not ostracize anyone in the country. The South-East did not get it better when the South-East voted for the PDP. The Minister of Works is from the South-East; the Minister of Trade and Investment is from the South-East. You also have leading politicians and head of government agencies from the South-East. Our party does not discriminate. We are looking for the best for government and we are putting the best in government. Regarding due process, election and electoral justice is not within the purview of the APC. We have gone to court. We have had fair share of win, we have had our fair share of loss in the court. You cannot say when APC wins, democracy is under threat, and when PDP wins, democracy is in action. We have had fair share of loss and fair share of win in the electoral contest. But the fact is that APC has become the largest party not only in Nigeria, but also in Africa.
Why is APC seemingly lethargic to the strident clamour for restructuring, especially fiscal federalism, and power devolution?
On restructuring, you must look at the facts on ground. You need to look at what the APC senators have done compared to the PDP Senators. I was part of the constitutional amendment in the ninth Assembly. What has the National Assembly that has more of the APC senators done? One, we have decentralised railway, that is restructuring. So if state governments are not taking advantage of that constitutional amendment, is it the fault of the APC? We have decentralized correctional system, which means each state can set up its own correctional system. We have also decentralised areas which have to do with education. We have decentralised revenue collection. As far, as I am concerned, it is not about making slogans, it is about people taking advantage of what has been done. Regarding devolution of power, the APC senators have done much more that the others, though there is still room for improvement.
The bill on State Police which I sponsored did not see the light of the day because we did not get the required majority to pass it. The talk now is that there should be decentralization of police; we are working on that. The issue of state police requires a lot of dialogue because of what has happened to native police in the North. Our colleagues in the North are wary of state police not being used as instrument for political molestation. It has nothing to do with APC stopping it; it is about getting more dialogue and the negotiation to be able to do it. The question about our party averse to implementing the El-Rufai report is slogan, it is not reality. We have done so much in the National Assembly in terms of devolution of power. So the other political parties who have members in the National Assembly should join us to take the story further in the 10th Assembly so that we can have more items in the residual and concurrent lists.
Since President Tinubu assumed power, three major issues have confronted him: fuel subsidy removal, coups in West Africa and the Labour demand for improved salaries for workers for workers…
The president has said the government will roll out a new minimum wage in 2024. But we have to be careful because we do not want hyper-inflation rate as a result of the new minimum wage. We want them to understand this position and whatever we are doing must not be done in terms of ordinary figure, but in terms of real value and purchasing power of the workers, which is why it is being done in staggered manner. We are currently doing N35,000 across board for all workers to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal. And you must also know that because of the removal of fuel subsidy, there is now more money going to the states to pursue infrastructure. So, we want Nigerians to focus on what our state governments are doing in terms of delivering on the dividends of democracy.
The essential work of governance is at the state levels not at the federal. Education is a state matter, health is a state matter, basic roads are state matters. So we should focus on what the leadership of our states are doing, we are interfacing with the Progressives Governors Forum headed by the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma on how we can synergize and ensure that dividends of democracy get to the people.
President Bola Tinubu has always been a performer. But he takes his time to start, because the building blocks of an economy have to be addressed. He has already put good leadership in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), good leadership in the ministries and departments and agencies of government. We are going to see the effects of this very soon. The 2024 budget the president sent to the National Assembly is a budget of growth, restructuring and development. By mid-2024 Nigerians will begin to see the positive impact of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
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