Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Senator Shehu Sani has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) would have disintegrated without President Muhammadu Buhari with the party.
Speaking after his appearance before the Segun Oni-led Reconciliation Committee on Kaduna crisis, at the party’s headquarters, at the weekend, Senator Sani warned that the future of the party in the 2019 general elections will depend on the handling of the crisis rocking the party.
On the party’s future, he said: “I will start with this; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man who is expected to bring peace to Somalia, to bring peace to Syria, to bring peace to Afghanistan and also to reconcile Palestine and Israel.
“So, we pray for him to be able to achieve all these, but, we can say this clearly that we allowed APC’s problems to move from being a cat to being a tiger. And it now grew to such a level that threatens to consume everyone.
“I still see president Buhari as the glue of APC. Buhari is the glue of APC. These three words you are seeing, A, P and C, Buhari is the glue. If we don’t have Buhari in the APC, suddenly, everyone will find way to his home.
“So, as he remains the glue, he must also be up and doing in addressing these crises. And, part of the problems we are having here is the philosophy of being for everybody and for nobody, it led the party to nowhere.
“As far as I am concerned, I believe there is a future for this party, if every member of the party is treated with equity, justice and fairness. We must avoid the symptoms of crises that destroyed the Peoples Democratic Party. It must not come over here. This problem is something that can be resolved, as I said earlier, it has been allowed to move from being a cat to the tiger.”
Asked the possibility of the parties involved in the crises quitting, he replied: “You see, we say all politics are local. As far as I am concerned, if the crisis in Kaduna lingers and it defies all sorts of peaceful moves, certainly, people will take the next step. As far as I am concerned, everyone has plan B. Even for me, I have plan B, Plan C and Plan D.
“So, If anybody feels he can enslave me, if anybody thinks he can dictate to me, if anyone feels that this party belongs to him and doesn’t belong to me and I am not needed in the party, there is no way I can continue to remain in the party; after all, it is a free world.”
On his mission at the headquarters, he disclosed that he was there at the invitation of the Oni-led reconciliation panel.
“My presence here at the APC national secretariat was in response to an invitation I received from the Segun Oni-led fact-finding committee that was sent to Kaduna, to investigate the political crisis in the state.
“Unfortunately, I was not able to meet the committee when they were in Kaduna, despite the fact that we waited at No 11B, Sambo Road, the very secretariat that was demolished by the governor of Kaduna State.
“But now, the committee invited me to the office and I came to state my own side of the story and it is very clear that Kaduna APC is in crisis and the crisis must be addressed by the national secretariat of the party and by the leadership of the party, so as to avert the tragedy that may befall the party in the upcoming elections…”