Ganduje’s ex-aide dumps APC, says Buhari’s seven-year administration a failure

Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai, a former Media Aide to Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying his exit from the party was because President Muhammad Buhari’s seven years administration is a big failure.

Salihu who is the son of Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, the former Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters to late former President Shehu Shagari noted that Buhari failed on campaign promises that brought him to power.

Salihu Yakasai made this assertion on Monday while addressing a world press conference in Kano, adding that things were getting worse and worse every day.

“No food, no portable water, no stable power supply, no jobs for the youth, no regular salary for public servants, no control of inflation, no security of life and property and no defeat of the stubborn insurgency which the Buhari regime used as campaign promises to emerge president in 2015,” he said.

According to him, “no one in his right mind wants to be associated with failure. But in the case of the ruling APC, those in power do not see themselves as having failed Nigerians.

“On the contrary, they perceive themselves as performing excellently. They douse themselves in self-praise, self-congratulations, and self-centred behaviour in public office. Many people in this country will rightly see their conduct as delusional. But the privileged ones in the office today hardly notice the reality surrounding the lives of ordinary citizens.

“By 2019, we reelected the APC again to manage the affairs of the country with the hope that its first term of four years was not enough to clear the mess it inherited from the defeated PDP administration.

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“Regretfully, the trust and confidence we reposed in the APC (the government as well as the party) on two occasions (first and second terms) was betrayed. If anything, things became worse in the second term. The benefit of the doubt we gave the party in the first term vanished as we moved deeper into the second term.

“Accountability demands that we give an account of our stewardship in government. I was privileged to serve my state, first, as Director-General, Directorate of Media and Communications at the Government House; and then as Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Matters. In both capacities, I served to the best of my ability. During this period I improved the image of the state government and effectively networked with citizens groups to project a positive image of our state on the national scene at a time when irredentist mentality, gripping certain parts of the south, was portraying a negative image of the north generally.

“My job was to deal with mindsets, not concrete things. So the results of our work is not usually immediate. Despite this, we can see evidence of what we did in the quality of the relationship between the state government and the people, then and now.

“Note that what I did in office came in the wake of what I encountered during our struggle to electorally unseat the all-powerful PDP administration in the state and the country at large from power in 2015.

I survived arrows and bullets shot at me by evil forces in both the real and virtual worlds. I am equally mindful of the campaign promises we made to the people as a party. I am fully aware of the fact that the APC leadership nationwide have fallen short of those promises.

But as I solemnly committed myself in December 2000 when I made my first entry into partisan politics over two decades ago, I will not just speak truth to power, I will try and live the truth that I speak no matter the cost.

“It was in that spirit that I vehemently criticised the PDP led government prior to 2015. It will be hypocritical of me today to keep quiet when our own APC government and party have underperformed.

“I made several attempts to highlight some of these failures from the inside, but unfortunately amends were not made, and those in power were averse to my corrective steps. Consequently, l was suspended from office in October 2020, arrested and sacked from my position in the Kano State Government in February 2021.

“I have therefore reached a point in my life where I have decided to embark on a new political journey to ensure that I stick to my beliefs and principles. It is in this light that, after due consultation with my political mentors, constituents, friends and family, I resolved to exit the APC. My membership of the party ceases from today, 21st March 2022.

“In the interim, I will take a few weeks to further consult, reflect and digest the political terrain, before deciding on my next line of action.

“I cannot end this exit message, without thanking the Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR, for believing in me, and giving me a platform in his government for over five years, to serve my state as the Director General Media and Communications, and later as his Special Adviser on Media.

“Finally, I will continue to live by my mantra of ‘ZeroTension’, believing as Surah 9 Verse 51 of the Holy Quran states: ‘Nothing will ever befall us except what Allah has destined for us. He is our Protector.’

“So in Allah, I put my trust. He is, after all, ‘the Best Knower’. Wherever He guides me to, there I shall be.”