Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Former candidates for the All Progressives Congress (APC) have urged Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential nominee, to act immediately to solve the defection that has plagued the organization recently.
According to Track News, the former candidates running under the banner of APC360 made the appeal following an urgent meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, the capital city.
The APC360 is a group made up of candidates who participated in the party’s primary elections from Abuja and the 36 states that make up the Federation.
Chris Enoch, the National Secretary of the APC360, urged Tinubu to take immediate action to curb the large-scale departure of members to rival parties in a statement released following the meeting.
The group also advised the former Governor of Lagos State said party members were deeply concerned about the fact that the party hierarchy has still not addressed the situation.
Enoch said that the group cannot pretend that nothing is occurring while ignoring the risky trend that is displacing party members like a flood.
The health and prosperity of our great party are also endangered, especially as we get ready for a general election, he continued.
We are concerned because we think the massive decamping, which is being done covertly, is intended to stop Tinubu from coasting to victory in the upcoming general election by those who have grudges against the party or who have invested directly in this great party through the purchase of nomination and expression of interest forms, among other things.
“Some of these defection cases are sponsored by influential members who are unhappy with how the party handled them during the primaries, while others are the result of claims that the party hierarchy forsook them after victory and relegated them to the background without acknowledging or rewarding them for their enormous efforts and heavy commitment to the party prior to victory.
“We as invested stakeholders in the party can no longer remain akimbo and pretend that everything is fine while a large number of significant members, particularly aspirants from the primaries of 2015, 2013, and 2022, are defecting to strengthen opposition parties that give them listening ears,” the statement reads.
