APC Still Together Because of Party’s Respect for Buhari, Says Okorocha

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has
stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still surviving
because of the respect the party stalwarts have for President
Muhammadu Buhari.

Okorocha, who spoke with select journalists in his Abuja home,
also said that unless the party goes back to the four pillars that
formed the APC, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) and the All Nigeria People Party (ANPP), the party
will continue to struggle.

The senator lauded the Edo masses for once again demonstrating
people’s power as against the dictates of a few, noting that
anything that’s founded on injustice will not survive.

According to the politician, if the APC does not right the
wrongs done by the Adams Oshiomhole-led executive that was recently
dissolved, the party will continue to grope in the dark.

“There is no more APC, what we have is the respect for President
Muhammadu Buhari, that is what is keeping us together. What we have
is our respect for the person of President Buhari and we still
believe that something can be done.

“That trust and respect is what we still call APC, outside that
respect for President Buhari and the trust and belief that he could
wake up one day and correct all these injustices and make it fine,
nothing is happening.

“ That’s the only thing that is keeping the APC, if not that, I
don’t think there is anything like APC because people are beginning
to get fed up. Again, PDP is not even better, the party has its own
challenges” he said.

While recalling the formative years of APC, he explained that
the CPC was led by Buhari, ACN led by Ahmed Tinubu, ANPP headed by
Ogbonnaya Onu while APGA led by him, brought in its structure.

“Every other person fell into this structure. The PDP group came
in and joined us. I gave the name APC, I designed that logo and
that was the beginning of the party and we had understanding.

“That is the party you call APC and unless we go back to where
it all started, APC can never see the light of the day and that was
how we started and that was what brought President Muhammadu Buhari
to office,” he noted.

He stressed that nobody can rule out the role of the four key
people, maintaining that while the CPC had only one governor in
Nasarawa, APGA had only one governor, ACN came with the chunk of
the governors while ANPP had a few.

“ And we shared the first positions equally among these four
parties. Now the founding fathers of the party are relegated to the
background and people are coming with different interests, making
us play the same kind of politics that PDP played” the former
governor argued.

On 2023, Okorocha insisted that the major criterion for who
should govern Nigeria after Buhari, should be the person’s capacity
and not necessarily where the person comes from, saying that those
who have nothing to offer should stay away from showing
interest.

Okorocha described APC’s loss in Edo as a masses’ revolution
against injustice, saying that he had warned several times of the
danger of allowing dictatorial tendencies and intentional
injustices prevail.

He said: “When injustice comes into a matter, the centre can no
longer hold and that is the problem of the party. I forewarned
about what is happening today in our party. And it means we don’t
have APC in the South South, that is a bad sign.

“In the southeast, literally we can say we don’t have APC, we
just managed through the ‘Ben Johnson’ way to get one state and
that does not make our image good.

“The same party under the leadership of the president, a man we
consider a clean man, an honest man, a patriotic man and these are
happening, that means it is unfortunate.

“The truth is, what I have been talking about has come to play.
I will not congratulate the PDP, I will congratulate the Edo
people. I congratulate them for standing up against injustice.

“The people that voted for Godwin Obaseki are not only PDP, even
people in the APC voted for him. They want to stand up against
injustice, Edo people are not docile, they know what they want and
how they want it,” he said.”

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has
stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still surviving
because of the respect the party stalwarts have for President
Muhammadu Buhari.

Okorocha, who spoke with select journalists in his Abuja home,
also said that unless the party goes back to the four pillars that
formed the APC, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) and the All Nigeria People Party (ANPP), the party
will continue to struggle.

The senator lauded the Edo masses for once again demonstrating
people’s power as against the dictates of a few, noting that
anything that’s founded on injustice will not survive.

According to the politician, if the APC does not right the
wrongs done by the Adams Oshiomhole-led executive that was recently
dissolved, the party will continue to grope in the dark.

“There is no more APC, what we have is the respect for President
Muhammadu Buhari, that is what is keeping us together. What we have
is our respect for the person of President Buhari and we still
believe that something can be done.

“That trust and respect is what we still call APC, outside that
respect for President Buhari and the trust and belief that he could
wake up one day and correct all these injustices and make it fine,
nothing is happening.

“ That’s the only thing that is keeping the APC, if not that, I
don’t think there is anything like APC because people are beginning
to get fed up. Again, PDP is not even better, the party has its own
challenges” he said.

While recalling the formative years of APC, he explained that
the CPC was led by Buhari, ACN led by Ahmed Tinubu, ANPP headed by
Ogbonnaya Onu while APGA led by him, brought in its structure.

“Every other person fell into this structure. The PDP group came
in and joined us. I gave the name APC, I designed that logo and
that was the beginning of the party and we had understanding.

“That is the party you call APC and unless we go back to where
it all started, APC can never see the light of the day and that was
how we started and that was what brought President Muhammadu Buhari
to office,” he noted.

He stressed that nobody can rule out the role of the four key
people, maintaining that while the CPC had only one governor in
Nasarawa, APGA had only one governor, ACN came with the chunk of
the governors while ANPP had a few.

“ And we shared the first positions equally among these four
parties. Now the founding fathers of the party are relegated to the
background and people are coming with different interests, making
us play the same kind of politics that PDP played” the former
governor argued.

On 2023, Okorocha insisted that the major criterion for who
should govern Nigeria after Buhari, should be the person’s capacity
and not necessarily where the person comes from, saying that those
who have nothing to offer should stay away from showing
interest.

Okorocha described APC’s loss in Edo as a masses’ revolution
against injustice, saying that he had warned several times of the
danger of allowing dictatorial tendencies and intentional
injustices prevail.

He said: “When injustice comes into a matter, the centre can no
longer hold and that is the problem of the party. I forewarned
about what is happening today in our party. And it means we don’t
have APC in the South South, that is a bad sign.

“In the southeast, literally we can say we don’t have APC, we
just managed through the ‘Ben Johnson’ way to get one state and
that does not make our image good.

“The same party under the leadership of the president, a man we
consider a clean man, an honest man, a patriotic man and these are
happening, that means it is unfortunate.

“The truth is, what I have been talking about has come to play.
I will not congratulate the PDP, I will congratulate the Edo
people. I congratulate them for standing up against injustice.

“The people that voted for Godwin Obaseki are not only PDP, even
people in the APC voted for him. They want to stand up against
injustice, Edo people are not docile, they know what they want and
how they want it,” he said.”