In a press statement that is neither here nor there, Salihu Lukman, director-general, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), has explained why some members of APC are protesting against the defection and reception of Femi Fani-Kayode to the party.
He gave the explanation in a statement on Sunday in Abuja while reacting to the recent defection of Fani-Kayode to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Lukman, in the statement entitled: “APC’s High Profile Membership Recruitment and Issues for 2023″ said Fani-Kayode’s capacity to build and sustain relationships was short, not just politically, but in every aspect of his life.
“Late on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, reports emerged that Fani-Kayode had joined the APC and was received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
“With the emergence of the report, public attention in the country has been dominated by negative commentaries,” the PGF DG said.
He noted that the development had resulted in negative commentaries, mostly from APC members who wondered why Fani-Kayode should be accorded such a high profile reception by the party leadership.
He recalled that one of the first persons to express disappointment was Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Political Matters.
Ojudu, he said, had lamented that the reception given to Fani-Kayode made the day the saddest of his political career.
Joy Igbokwe, a staunch member of the Lagos APC, also lamented the rolling out of the drum by Aso Rock while others who have been committed to the party have never got an invite for coffee.
“The protest against Fani-Kayode joining the APC has to do with his venomous nature, he abuses, insults, and disparages everybody, almost indiscriminately.
“Almost every member of APC is angry that our leaders have brought someone like Fani-Kayode into our party. This is made worse by the red carpet reception given to him, which he doesn’t deserve.
“But since it has happened, there is no need to cry over spilled milk. What is very clear is that our leaders, especially President Buhari have forgiven Fani-Kayode and embrace him as one of us,” he said.
Lukman explained that as members of APC, the anger with Fani-Kayode was that he had abused the party, Buhari and virtually every leader of the party.
He, however, advised that with all the negative things Fani-Kayode had said about the APC and its leaders in the past, if its leaders could accept him into the party, its members “should not be more Catholic than the Pope“.
“Members of the APC should show understanding,” Lukman said.