The former national chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rufai Ahmed Alkali and other leaders have joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Others are the Kaduna State NNPP governorship candidate in the last polls, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi; former National Legal Adviser and Benue State NNPP Governorship, Prof. Bem Angwe; Nuhu Ajiana Audu; Dr. Isa Abdullahi Shika; Hon. Mikaih Takwat; Major Yahaya Shinko (rtd); Alhaji Usman Danbaba; Hon. Ihyom Asongu; and Barr John Tine.
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They announced their defection at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, where they were received by the party’s national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
Alkali, who was a one-time national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said they decided to resign from the NNPP due to individual differences.
He told the APC national chairman that they settled for the APC as their next destination after wide consultations, adding that though the PDP approached him to return, he respectfully declined because the reasons he left the party had not changed.
He said with the termination of all litigation concerning the presidential election by the Supreme Court, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserved to be supported and encouraged to steer the ship of Nigerian State to restore hope in the country.
“Given the numerous challenges confronting our country at this point in our nation’s history, all Nigerians deserve peace and tranquility to go about their normal lives. To achieve this, this country needs to be preserved, our democracy needs to be protected, and this government needs to be supported.
“And with all the litigation over the presidential election over, it is time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be supported and encouraged to steer the ship of the Nigerian State to restore hope in the country. Our primary considerations for joining the APC at this point in time are therefore based on a number of considerations.
“As recent events in the Niger Republic have shown, there is great hope and expectation for Nigeria to fulfill its manifest destiny as the leading nation in Africa. The tasks before us therefore are not only to solve our own internal problems but also to play decisive and leading roles in addressing and resolving the numerous challenges of the African continent.
“Nigerians have suffered much and long enough that the longer the country is allowed to drift, the more and deeper the pain and suffering of the ordinary citizen in our dear country. This is why we feel, even though the legal option remains always available to political actors, it must be remembered that the heroic decision of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to concede victory in March 2015 to General Muhammadu Buhari even before the final declaration of the presidential election result was announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made him a national and global hero of all times,” he said.
Responding, Ganduje said, “We knew NNPP was going for doom, and now we have seen the doom.”
The former Kano State governor also said the APC has a good internal mechanism that provides a level playing field for all members, irrespective of status.
Ganduje said the APC is a strong political institution made up of people conversant with the problems and aspirations of Nigerians.