Femi Adesina has labeled President Muhammadu Buhari as the strong unifier that the Peoples Democratic Party lacks.
Adesina stated this while responding to commentators predicting the fall of All Progressives Congress after its convention on Saturday.
The presidential aide, however, said APC will succeed because Buhari is the centripetal force in the ruling party.
He said Buhari is hugely respected, admired, and adored.
Adesina said:
“Why do the cynics rage, and the scoffers imagine vain things? APC is not only about 8 years old, it continues to wax stronger and stronger. Like every human organization, it has been buffeted and badgered by storms, but it marches on. Steady. Sturdy.
“The much older but rival People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is almost perpetually in the eye of the storm. Nearly all its national chairmen have left office involuntarily since it was formed in 1998. The expectation, therefore, is for the APC to face the same tempest, and in fact to flounder, and eventually collapse.
But there’s a big difference between the two political parties. And that difference is one man. Muhammadu Buhari. He is the centripetal force in APC, a strong unifier, which PDP lacks.
The APC at creation needed a rallying force. Buhari, who became the presidential candidate, and has won elections twice, is that force. Hugely respected, admired and adored, he is the centre that holds the party together. And he has earned the respect he commands, through decades of commitment to integrity, personal example, and accountability. That is who (or what) the PDP lacks. And it’s the fundamental difference between the two parties.
I’ve heard it often said gleefully by the opposition: Buhari won’t be on the APC ticket again in 2023, the automatic 12 million votes won’t be there. Let’s see how the APC wins. Let’s even see how the party survives till then.
“After the National Convention on Saturday, the APC would likely disappoint a lot of ill-wishers. The party would be together, cohesive, and ready to make further conquests in the general elections next year.”
Adesina added that: “You may say, but the Convention has not even held yet. Why are you jubilations already? Never abuse an alligator till you have safely crossed the river. Well, gut feeling tells me that the APC will suffer no rupture. No schism, implosion or explosion. It will come out of the Convention as right as rain. Millions would rejoice round the country, while some minority would be like King Lear at his worst.”
