Ahead of the general elections, the leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday held closed-door discussions with two former Heads of State, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, at their residences in Minna, Niger State.
The APC leaders paid a similar visit to Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State last week in Minna, where they openly invited him to join their party.
Those who met Babangida and Abubakar included the APC interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, former Minister of works, Alhaji Hassan Lawal, and the National Woman Leader, Mrs. Sharon Ikeaso, as well as the Niger State leadership of the party.
Arriving Babangida’s house about 11:30a.m, they went into a closed-door meeting that ended at 12:30p.m and afterward, headed to the home of Abubakar and entered another round of consultation that took an hour.
Shortly after, Babangida, in an interview with journalists, waived off criticisms that as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, he was romancing with the opposition party.
According to the former Military President, his door is opened to anyone that comes to consult with him on the welfare of Nigeria and how to move the country forward.
He said: “Nigeria is bigger than PDP. They came to talk about Nigeria and how to move the nation forward.
“The APC leaders visited me to discuss the welfare of the country which should be the responsibility of every Nigerian whether you belong to a party or you do not have a party, you have an assignment assigned to you to protect the integrity of the country. The APC leaders are concerned about Nigeria.”
On what the meeting was all about, Babangida explained that the consultation centred on welfare, education, security and the economic well-being of the country.
He said: “People who come to talk about Nigeria and the way forward will always be welcomed by me. We have to find a way forward for this generation; what we are doing is for this generation.
“The meeting had to do with the welfare, education, security and economic wellbeing of the country. Anything that would promote and move the country forward would be encouraged by me.”
Speaking in the same vein, Abubakar said since he was not involved in politics, the APC leaders could not woo him.
He said: “I am not a politician; I am not a partisan politician and I don’t need to be wooed. The APC leaders only came to brief me on the amalgamation of the new party; how they are doing and how far they have gone.”
When asked what he discussed with the party leaders, he said: “Well, what I told them, they have already heard. I don’t want to make it public.”
Further pressed, Abubakar said he advised them on “how all of us really need this country and the need to make sure that we maintain peace in the country for us to leave in peace and make progress”.
The former Head of State also stressed the need for Nigerians to be allowed to join the parties of their choice to play their citizens’ rights by doing what they think is right for the country.
He said: “I enjoin Nigerians to join political parties of their choice and play their citizens’ rights and whether you are in opposition or in government, in the various ways of your manifesto, you are serving the country. So whatever role any party finds itself, they should play that role very well.”
Also, Akande explained that the APC leadership was in the state to meet and seek wise counsel from the two former leaders on how to properly administer the affairs of the party.
The chairman added that the consultation was ongoing, until they met with all the wise men across the country to seek counsel from them.
He said: “We will continue to travel the whole country to consult with people all over the country. We need to pick the brains of former rulers in this country in order to be wiser than we were before we came here.”
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