BREAKING: Anti-Jonathan protest rocks APC Abuja National Secretariat
…We’ve capable presidential materials in APC -Protesters
Razaq Bamidele
A group that identifies itself as All Progressives Congress (APC), North-South Patriotic Coalition (ANSPAC), stormed the APC National Secretariat, in Abuja, on Thursday morning, in their hundreds to protest against the possibility of former President Goodluck Jonathan decamping to the Party and getting the Party’s presidential ticket.
The protesters’ fear is borne out of the suspicion that the former President might be considered to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari as it has been in the public domain for sometimes now, suspecting that the move is being sponsored by some powerful Northern forces within the APC as a way to get power returned to the North after Jonathan’s one-term presidency in 2027!
However, it is believed that Jonathan himself is said to be insisting on being considered for the Party’s automatic presidential ticket before he can decamp to the Party, the development that seems has not gone down well with many critical stakeholders in the APC who have been opposed to the move.
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Today’s protest was led by a founding member of the APC from the Southwest, one Alhaji Toyin Raheem, who led almost a thousand Party members from across the country to the Party’s headquarters in Abuja to protest the agenda with a petition submitted to the office of the Party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, demanding categorical rejection of the possibility of Jonathan being “imposed” on the Party.
The petition, submitted to the office of the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu was entitled: The Destructive Potentials of A Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Candidacy for the APC and signed by the Chairman, Alhaji Toyin Rahim. It reads in part:
“What began as a mere rumour seems to be gathering momentum so close to the presidential primary of our great Party. This Jonathan project cannot fly simply because it cannot help our Party and we want to do our best to ensure that our Party does not fall victim of ill-advised action that can push the Party out of power.
(And) “One of the most telling negative implications of such an action is that the APC does not have anyone of electoral value who can win election for us except we smuggle in a former president we defeated seven years ago for his glaring incompetence as president. In APC today there are presidential aspirants with credible pedigrees and humongous electoral value and capacity.
“So, it is not only unnecessary to smuggle Jonathan into our great Party, it is also self-indicting and meaning that our Party’s performance in office has been worse than an administration that Nigerians thoroughly rejected and voted APC in 2015. It will also be an indictment against His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari by making Nigerians believe that we lied to them when we said Jonathan performed woefully and that our dear President Muhammadu Buhari would do better.”
The protesters therefore threatened to stage daily protest if need be until they are certain that the former president would not be “smuggled through the back door “ and imposed as the Party’s presidential candidate.
Although how the Party would respond to this latest development is not yet certain, some Party officials we spoke to are volunteered that, “up till now, there hasn’t been any open opposition to the Jonathan candidacy but this protest is likely to throw spanners into the plan to bring Jonathan in,” adding, “It’s obviously a development not envisaged by the Party’s leadership.”
