Certain chieftains of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) were received into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday by the deputy senate president, Senator Barau Jibrin.
Among those who dumped the party included, the 2023 Vice Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Engineer Yusuf Buhari; Kano State governorship candidate, Bala Mohammed Gwagwarawa members of the Kano State Working Committee and 13 house of assembly.
Addressing the gathering of the erstwhile SDP chieftains and members of the APC at the event held at REIZ Continental Hotel, Abuja, Senator Barau who represents Kano North said the development was indicative of the death of the SDP.
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He said:” Let me start by saying those who have been moving around, going around the country, trying to woo people to SDP, and thinking that their effort will give birth to a platform that will challenge the APC in the next election, the idea is confirmed to be dead on arrival. Dead on arrival.
“Why do I say that? People have rejected that invitation. People have said no, we are not coming to your party. The former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido and others, who have been mentioned have said no.
“And to add salt into an injury, those who are in the party (SDP) are now moving to our party, APC. The party is going to be empty. Today, the Vice Presidential Candidate, the Governorship Candidate in Kano State and other heavyweights in the SDP have joined APC.
“If we had postponed the meeting to tomorrow, we would have gotten almost all the candidates who stood under the banner of the party in various states being part of this. But we are going to do that in another day in the future.”
He commended the new members of the APC for recognizing the progresses that are being recorded under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Of course, as you said, when he came on board, he met a situation that was not palatable, but he brought in some reforms that are now being implemented and they are now working. It’s a good situation.
“And we can see how the prices are going down. Prices are going down. Inflation is coming down and so many other things. I’m glad that that is the reason why you decided to move ahead with your people down to the APC,” he said.
National chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje who was represented by the Deputy National Chairman ( South) Emma Eneukwu, described the defection as a transition “from darkness to light,” underscoring APC’s role as a beacon of transformative leadership under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He emphasised President Tinubu’s bold reforms across economic, social, and governance sectors, expressing confidence that Nigeria will emerge as one of the world’s most developed nations by the end of his tenure.
“APC is a party of inclusion, where every member enjoys equal rights to contest elections and contribute to nation-building,” he said.
On his part, a former governor of Kano State, Senator Kabiru Gaya, told the gathering that the SDP was already empty by the time El-Rufai joined it.
He said, “The party is dead because the Vice Presidential candidate is here, the Governorship Candidate of SDP is here, and all other stakeholders of SDP are here. So I’m sure today we are celebrating the burial of that party.
“I would say kudos to the Deputy Senate President for your effort to bring these important and heavyweight politicians to our party.”
The Vice Presidential Candidate of the SDP, Yusuf Buhari, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said they were motivated to the APC by the successes being recorded under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said, “The fact of the matter is that everything is very clear. When this government came into power under the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there were a lot of problems on the ground. Even though we know that the former administration has done a lot, but there are still a lot of problems on the ground.
“Amongst them was the issue of insecurity. The subsidy regime has gone upside down. And because of that, His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu had to instill very strong and very painful economic reforms. Whenever you try to come up with reforms, there have to be pains.
“But after two years, we have started to see that these economic policies are yielding some fruits. The foreign exchange is beginning to stabilize. Prices of goods are coming down. Insecurity is being addressed by our military, by our brave armed forces. So hopefully, a lot of our men and women, especially in the rural areas, are going to go back to their farmlands, which is going to further reduce the cost of good prices.”
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