APC is like Jehovah’s Witnesses — we go round to recruit members – Ajibola Basiru
Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has likened the ruling party to Jehovah’s Witnesses — a Christian group famed for its door-to-door evangelism.
The politician also described the opposition in Nigeria as unserious and inactive.
Basiru, a former senator who represented Osun Central, spoke on ‘Politics Today,’ a program on Channels Television, on Wednesday.
He was reacting to claims that the APC and the Bola Tinubu-led federal government are steering Nigeria towards a one-party state due to the wave of defections to the ruling party.
“The country is not our making. The politics of the country is not our making,” Basiru said.
“I think the problem with Nigeria is that we don’t seem to have people who are very serious in opposition and who take their job seriously.
“You will not want a ruling party to do this work for you. And I want to challenge your journalists. Tomorrow is a working day. Go around the headquarters of all other political parties and see whether you see any activity going on.”
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Basiru commended the leadership of the APC and said the party actively engages the grassroots.
“I must first and foremost give credence to the sagacity of not only the president but the progressives governors’ forum and the leadership of the national working committee of our party,” he said.
“We go round; we are like Jehovah’s Witnesses, an apology to those who belong to that religious organization… we go round and proselytize our own party in all nooks and crannies.”
He said one of the key policies under the leadership of Abdullahi Ganduje, national chairman of the APC, is to build a functional and efficient party structure at every level in the country.
“That is what we are doing. We cannot do the work of opposition for them,” he said.
‘OPPOSITION SHOULD STOP LYING TO ITSELF’
Basiru recalled the role Tinubu played when he was in the opposition, noting that the former Lagos governor remained resilient in the face of probes.
“When we were in opposition, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for instance, in the south-west, was the only surviving governor after the 2003 election,” he said.
“Even with what somebody was saying about harassment, the now NSA said that then-governor Bola Tinubu was the most investigated governor by the EFCC.
