A Senatorial aspirant for Kaduna Central Zone, Mohammed Ali, has given reasons for defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
He said he left because APC has not achieved anything meaningful since it took over power eight years ago.
He told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE in an interview at the weekend that while in the APC, they campaigned and promised Nigerians to tackle insecurity, corruption, and power supply, saying “seven years after, nothing meaningful has been archived since the last seven years especially now that the economy of violence has become an entrepreneurship under a government that promised to fight insecurity.”
Ali said, “I left the APC for PRP because we campaigned on three major issues: Insecurity, Corruption, and Power supply. Today, nothing meaningful has been archived.
He recalled that the PDP handed over power in 2015 to the APC when a dollar was exchanged for only N180, “but today under a reformist government, we are buying dollars for N730.”
He blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing the situation to degenerate to the level Nigeria was currently experiencing, saying “leadership is about individual character, personal integrity, experience and proven performance as such be reassured that in 2023 it’s who you are that matters, not the party.”
Ali who represented Kawo Constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly said “character, accomplishment, and proven performance is what will determine who gets what in 2023.
“If you like to give all the money in the Central Bank, we equally advised the electorate to collect any money given to them after all it was taken from our commonwealth but they should vote for integrity and proven performance and accountability. The days of you chop I chop are numbered, do take note and heed.”
He recalled the early days of his association with Buhari, saying he pioneered the emergence of CPC, “I wrote a five-page memo to Muhammadu Buhari as he then was suggesting that we should leave the ANPP. ”
He said the memo was an offshoot of Buhari’s accusation that both the national exco and the governors of the CPC sold out and the need to leave the party.
“We were at the Supreme court in a suit against the outcome of the 2007 Presidential elections. He adopted my suggestion after wide consultations and CPC was formed in 2010 barely one year before the 2011 general elections. By projection, CPC will not win less than 10 states in the North but political jobbers sold out and spoilt our calculations and we ended up winning only Nasarawa state.”
