THE gale of defection rocking the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has been described as a sign of troubled waters for the party which will, however, be resolved soonest.
Declaring this at the Murtala Muhammed Airport yesterday, former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu while speaking to some airport journalists said though the mass defection presently rocking the APC was a question of choice by the different defectors.
His words: “We are in trouble. Anybody saying APC is not in trouble is not saying the truth but we will come out of it, but you see the President has remained like a true leader and father of all that he is, you have not seen him abuse anybody. Defecting and not defecting is a question of choice. We acknowledge we have a problem and we are going to fine-tune a strategy to resolve it.
“We are in trouble of political business because we are in political business and we are going to find political solutions to the myriad of political business we have at hand. Every trouble has a solution and we are going to find a solution to the problem we have now.”
Reacting to the defection of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Kalu stated: “It is the choice of the Senate president to defect. You know we are all friends. He left the PDP before to come to the APC. What l don’t like about the defection is that it shouldn’t be a recurring decimal whereby at any slightest thing, we jump to another political party. Saraki’s father was my father; l was like his first son.
“I can’t speak ill of him. He has made his decision and l cannot stop him, that will not stop me from going to his house to eat food. The other day l was in former Vice President Atiku’s house but l am a core supporter of Buhari. People are just playing politics as if it is a do or die affair. One thing is clear, by 2019, one person must win this presidency not two people.”
While asked to speak on the alleged disenchantment reason being fingered to be responsible for the mass defection in the ruling party, the former governor who said the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole was equal to the task said: “The leadership of the party are looking at the present solution.
“Rome was not built in a day. PDP was a party formed barely 20 years ago and APC is just 3 years old so there must be fighting just like we saw in the early days of PDP, up till 2006 we were fighting. People like me were deregistered from my PDP but l didn’t leave PDP, we were deregistered by Obasanjo, myself, Atiku, Bony Haruna and the rest of us.
“It is a continuous thing but l want people to be patient, we would be able to get what we are looking for but if not we won’t get to our desired destination because political processes evolve over time. I keep saying that in political development, the hardware is not the selling point, successes of any political development is the software. The software means obeying the rule of law. You saw yesterday l lost the case of my no case submission in the court and l am not abusing the judge or talk ill of the judge, that was the opinion of the judge and l am going to a higher court to seek appeal and even go to the supreme court where l will seek the opinion of another jurist.
“This is what l preach to government, individuals, corporations etc that we must obey the rule of law. Unless everybody sees a lion from the same point that it is a lion. I want to advise that government at all levels and individuals should start obeying the court record. Once we obey the laws of the court and those of the land, we become freer.”
He used the occasion to commend the government on its move to float a new national carrier, Nigeria Air saying: “The government has done fantastically what l believe should be done. It should be replicated in the rail, waterways, shipping line and others. Government should just owe 5 per cent. I must praise the minister of state for aviation and the people that put the structure that is making waves today. Those structures are solid ones and if they can maintain it, Nigeria Air will compete with other foreign carriers that dominate our airspace.”
