APC may soon die, Ex-governor and party member warns

A former governor of Adamawa State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Murtala Nyako, has criticised the decision of the party to extend the tenure of its executive committees at the national and other levels as potentially suicidal for the party.

Speaking in Yola on Saturday while addressing a group of APC supporters at his residence shortly after he condoled with the family of a former governor of the state, Saleh Michika, who died last week, Mr. Nyako warned that the party may die unless its leaders take urgent actions to address alleged illegalities and impunity going on in the party

The former governor said APC has lost the moral ground to speak on due process, rule of law, enforcement of democratic norms and culture.

He contended that the only way out of the controversies surrounding the tenure elongation of the executive committee is for the party to hold a national convention, saying anything outside this would not work.

According to him, the actions of some party leaders will not make APC move forward.

“Even if a mechanic takes APC to court today over the unconstitutional and undemocratic tenure extension of party officials, it is very clear that the court can lock the national secretariat of the party. If there is no convention in APC before the general elections, the party may become a spectator instead of a participant,” he warned.

Stressing that only fairness, legality, justice and rule of law can sustain the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections, Mr. Nyako urged the party to learn from what led to the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2015 general elections and retrace its steps before it is too late.

The former governor, a former Chief of Naval Staff, also took a swipe at some political leaders in Nigeria for their utterances.

He said “the quality of remarks made on some important national issues does not reflect reasonable sense.