"All Progressives Congress (APC) is a fraud" - Shekarau

A former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has lambasted the All Progressives Congress, APC, describing it as a party built on fraud.

Mr. Shekarau, a founding member of the APC, recently decamped to Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The ex-governor stated his views of his former party on Monday at the Yar’Adua centre, Abuja, where he addressed the press on his formal defection to the PDP.

He spoke a day after the Interim National Secretary of the APC, Tijjani Tumsah, announced that the party would re-admit the ex-governor if he returned to it.

Mr. Shekarau, who has come under fire from some APC supporters in the north over his defection, said no amount of intimidation, blackmail, or character assassination will make him change his decision.

The ex-governor, who co- chaired a committee that harmonised the merger of three defunct parties to form the APC, said the major problem with the new party is that it was formed to satisfy the aspiration of some of its leaders. He said six months after its registration, the APC has no constitution, manifesto, or full executive officials at all levels.

“Some people wanted to pocket the party, that is why its constitution is yet to see the light of the day,” he said.

He also said the APC has already lost its soul, and that his efforts to correct the anomaly were rebuffed.

“The soul of the APC is lost. It cannot be touched or seen. APC Constitution is a political fraud. There is no management at any level of APC. This is the issue we raised and this is what we challenged. I did all I could do to salvage the APC with no results. I refused to keep quiet at the face of the shenanigans going on in the APC,” he added.

“We cannot see ourselves belonging to a platform where we have been made to be in the pocket of others.

“After six months no structure was found anywhere, we cannot belong to such, where a caricature of management is found. We challenged the leadership of APC to tell us why the Constitution and manifestos of the party is not found on the street of Nigeria,” he added.

The former governor said some leaders of the party has arrogated to themselves positions that were not in any official structure of the party.

“There is nowhere in the constitution of APC that said X and Y are the leaders of the party,” he said.

Mr. Shekarau said politics goes beyond just running for office but ensuring that the generality of the people participate in nation building. He said he decided to join the PDP because the party has begun to work on its internal problems. He pledged his loyalty to the leadership of his new party.

Mr. Shekarau, the presidential candidate of the defunct ANPP in 2011, said his decision to dump the APC for the PDP, was jointly taken with his supporters not just in Kano, but across Nigeria.