A former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has predicted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will be in disarray and eventually disintegrate by 2023.
Lamido, a chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the declaration in Kano at the sideline of his meeting with the newly elected chairmen of the party in the 27 LGAs of Jigawa State.
He said the party will disintegrate because President Muhammadu Buhari, the main appeal for the party will no longer have any use for them and will therefore no longer be able to serve as the magnetic force for the party.
“He (Buhari) was the magnet, the character and the aura that led to the formation of the party,” he said.
He added that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s former party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) had the major share in the formation of APC with Buhari a small shareholder with his Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), yet he (Buhari) was made president.
“They used Buhari to be what they are and he also used them to be Nigeria’s president. They mutually used each other and there are no more obligations on any of them. Their agenda is concluded, it is now over,” he declared.
Lamido, however, noted that unlike other parties that have come and gone since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, his party, PDP, remained the only party of reckon in the country.
He said it would return to power in 2023 and return Nigeria to the path of growth it started before it was derailed by the APC-led government from 2015.
“What will be the unifying factor in APC in 2023? Unlike PDP which is a household name, which is Nigerian ownership. In 2014 when we were doing campaign, I said if I could kidnap Buhari and Tinubu and hide them somewhere, the party is dead and people were condemning me.
“I said then that APC is not organic, it is an association of interests and it is centred around Buhari, with his personality and Tinubu with his constituency. By 2023, that which joined them together is no longer there,” he added.
