The rumored return former aviation minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to the APC Less than 24 hours after the meeting between him and some leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) became public has been met with resistance from members of the APC and the recent of them is the Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum, Saliu Lukman.
Njenje Media News reports that the Salihu Lukman had on Tuesday warned that admitting the controversial politician will be counterproductive to the current registration and revalidation drive of the party.
In a statement titled: “APC: Reminder about our values”, Lukman said admittance of the former Minister would amount to a reward for scandalous behaviour.
He warned that as a progressive party, the APC should not be for someone like Fani-Kayode, asking whether the party leadership would also contemplate admitting Nnamdi Kanu or Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau into its fold.
The PGF DG said President Muhammadu Buhari will not be favourably disposed to the move, adding such consideration will be stretching the trust of party members beyond acceptable limits.
According to TVC News, Lukman cited many derogatory statements, confrontational open letters against the President and one of the APC national leaders recently by Fani-Kayode, adding the national caucus of the party must be involved in clearing him should he be admitted.
According to him, “On no account should anyone with the kind of baggage of Mr. Fani-Kayode be invited to join the party without clearance from a statutory structure of the party. In this particular instance, the national caucus should be the clearing house.
“Besides the open letters, what abusive language has he not used against our party and our leaders? Most of these are unprintable. A typical example of the kind of abuses he spat on our leaders and our party can be demonstrated with his response to a tweet by Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Information, last May 2020.
“Mr. Adesina argued that President Buhari’s emergence as President saved the country. Responding, Mr. Fani-Kayode said: “Not so my friend. The emergence of Buhari in 2015 annihilated Nigeria and plunged her into darkness, death and destruction. “He came to steal, kill and destroy and for the last disastrous 5 years that is all he has done.”
“Compared to most of Mr. Fani-Kayode’s barrages of insults on APC and its leaders, this would appear to be very civil. Most Nigerians, both APC members and non-APC members would appear to be in agreement that any association between APC and its leadership with Mr. Fani-Kayode is indicative of problem of values.
“Without being academic in anyway, the issue of values is basically about the qualities of people and the vision they hold. What kind of people are we aspiring to attract into our party?”
He went on: “Do we want to reduce our party into one in which everybody is welcome? Can we for instance in anyway or form contemplate having an Nnamdi Kanu or Abubakar Shekau as a member? If that were to be the case, why don’t we just have INEC register IPOB and Boko Haram as political parties and allow them to field candidates for elections?
“We may be tempted to argue that Mr. Fani-Kayode is not Nnamdi Kanu or Abubakar Shekau. It is however difficult to fathom what qualifies him to be associated with our leaders at that high level?
“At this rate, one day, Nigerians will just wake and see some of our leaders presenting Mr. Fani-Kayode to President Buhari as a new member of our party. Although, we can confidently argue that President Buhari will not approve such deranged possibility, it is important to caution that such consideration will be stretching the trust of party members beyond acceptable limits.
The PGF boss noted fraternising with the likes of the former Minister by the party leaders is simply rewarding scandalous and uncouth behaviour.
