The All Progressives Congress has no choice but to accept ”displaced politicians” from other parties in the wake of rising defections, Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, says. Mr Ndume, however, warned of potential collapse of the ruling party.
Mr Ndume said this at Nnamdi Azikiwe’s sixth Annual Award Lecture 2025 (121-posthumous birthday celebration) in Abuja.
Reacting to the statement of former Governor Mu’azu Aliyu, who said that the Peoples Democratic Party had successfully removed the cancer destroying the party by suspending certain chieftains, Mr Ndume called for unity in the interest of Nigeria.
“I wish you good luck. You said that you have removed the cancer. I do not know whether it is too late or if your patient will be revived. We in APC have no choice but to accommodate our displaced politicians who are trooping into APC.
“Our president is a leader, and that comes to the topic of today. What we need is for charity to begin at home. Let us be united,” said Mr Ndume.
Mr Ndume stressed the need for politicians to support the leadership of President Bola Tinubu in moving the country forward through unity.
According to Mr Ndume, other parties in the political scenario, which were supposed to be either the opposition or the minority, are concentrating on picking over power that is yet to come.
“We are far away from 2027, yet the PDP is gathering in Ibadan to say they want to throw away APC. Wait until 2007. Come and contribute to the success of the government, but they are saying that they want to come into the APC.
“We opened the door. In fact, I warned that APC is being overloaded, and when you have a ship and you have loaded cargo, most of them empty, then there are chances you will capsize, and if it capsizes, you, the owner of the ship, will be in a bigger problem. That is where we find ourselves,“ he said.
Mr. Ndume said that the PDP was not comfortable playing the role of the minority or opposition. He said that the leadership of the APC went out of its way to ask them to come over.
He added, “But when your brother is displaced because of crises in his party and he knocks at your door, will you leave the door closed or will you open it for him?
“So that is what is happening to us. So when they come, as we get them into the APC, they are not contributing anything. They do not say anything. They just sit down and be part of it.”
(NAN)