Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he has no apology for using labour tactics as his style of leadership.
The former Edo governor said the ruling party will use the tactics to “humble them” in Kwara, Sokoto and Benue.
The governors of the three states recently defected from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Oshiomhole said the traditional style of “ruling class tactics” is not working, and as such, he is using a different approach.
The APC chairman said he would rather be called “an attack dog than be a mushroom eater”.
Oshiomhole made the comments on Friday in Benin, Edo state.
He said: “For those questioning my choice of style, if the traditional style was working, we won’t be where we are. I will not adopt the ruling class tactics to deal with cankerworms of diseases. I offer a different style in order to get a different outcome.
“In Edo, they made this argument, that politics is different from labour, we used labour tactics to humble them and they became converted. Exactly the same way we used it in Edo, we will use it to humble them whether in Kwara, Benue or Sokoto or anywhere.
“I am very proud of my working-class background. For a party that is committed to the people which I have agreed to lead, we must engage and engage even if they call me attack dog.
“I asked you to understand that what is at stake is beyond APC and PDP. Nigeria is much more than the sum total of all the political parties. When you see all the arguments here and there, sponsored debates here and there, I am at home with them. I think by February next year, we will see who is who.
“Everything they are giving, they suck and that translates to poverty for the Nigerian people; every privileged position they have been given, they convert it to an ATM machine. All such actions put together explain the paradox that we are in, that democracy is not delivering to the majority of the Nigerian people. We must go beyond a situation in which the only entry point for the Nigerian is on election day, and after the election, the elected go to Abuja till another election.”
