Amidst speculation that the newly registered Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) is just PDP in disguise, Alhaji Mohammed Shittu, who is the Interim National Chairman of the party debunked the claim in this interview.

He also denied that former military president Ibrahim Babangida and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar are among the financiers of the part, but admitted that their target is to dislodge the ruling APC in 2019, without altering the political equation of power rotation.


The APDA is a party that was born by like-minds who sat and looked at the political system of Nigeria and said that we can’t continue operating a nascent democracy. 17 years down the line, we can’t be nascent again. We believe we should advance the cause of democracy; we should be able to bring in some technological innovations in order to curb abnormalities in our electoral system.

What makes APDA different from other political parties in Nigeria; what is the ideological framework?

The welfare of citizens is paramount in our minds, technological advancement is also paramount; we are also looking at it that this party must be taken to the people; it will be a people-funding party. We believe that with this party, we are equal; we don’t have god-fatherism in this party as other parties do. We believe that in this party, nobody will claim supremacy. It is a party for the masses. It is a party that wants to break the yoke of city-based politicians.

That is what other parties also say but after gaining power, they compromise. How are you sure APDA will not compromise?

We have introduced electronic voting for our primaries; we have also introduced e-payment. Whatever fund you are channeling to the party is by e-payment. All what we are doing is embedded in our constitution and you can be sued if you violate such. We have bio-metric registration of members, you can’t register two times. It is done in such a way that even if you are coming out for presidential election, you must start from your ward. You must go to your ward to be elected, you come back to your local government then you go to the state congress and so on.

Which zone is the party’s presidential candidate likely to come from?

There is no doubt that we are bringing our presidential candidate from the north.

Why the north?

We feel that it is a national phenomenon, so you can’t disagree with it. The presidential ticket of the party will rotate among the six geo-political zones. So we are picking our presidential candidate from the north in 2019 and we are very sure that we will win.

Why do you think APDA will win the presidential race?

We are confident because we have put in place a mechanism that other political parties don’t have. We have our structures in every part of this country.

There is a rumour that former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and former PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, are behind APDA. How true is this?

No, it is not true because I know that Bamanga Tukur has retired from active politics. He doesn’t even talk about political issues anymore. I have never met Atiku in my life. When you talk of IBB, he is a mentor, he has mentored so many Nigerians but he has also retired from partisan politics. So it is not true.

What is your membership like so far?

For now, we have about 15 million members and we are still counting as I am talking to you.

How will your party slug it out with the ruling party, the APC in 2019?

You see, they say that the stores are not the market but the people are the market. You can build a beautiful store but if the people are not there, there is no market. So we are taking this party to the grassroots and we believe that people will be with us because we are executing programmes that will help the masses.

Some big parties have elected officers who help in funding them and wielding influence in ensuring their parties win but in the case of the APDA, it does not have any of such…

Our strength is that people over time collected money and voted wrongly and I believe we Nigerians have learnt our lessons because we can see what has happened to the country; we are down. If you had collected N1, 000 to vote for anybody, you are paying N1 million now to better your life. So Nigerians are going to choose between those who give money and those who mean well.

There are reports that your party is facing internal problems. Specifically, you have been accused of trying to hijack the party. What is really happening?

The APDA is not in crisis. You know to strengthen the party, there must be different views but we have already sworn that there will be no god-fatherism, no supremacy of any individual in this party and we must uphold that for Nigerians. So I don’t believe in hijacking the party. But I believe that we have different views with some individuals and I have expressed my view and I stand by it.

Was there an attempt by any individual to introduce god-fatherism to the party?

You may see it in a different way. That is why you may think that we have crisis, but there is nothing like that.

Do you think the Republic of Biafra is realizable?

I will advise anyone that is thinking of Biafranism to know that the attempt was made in the past and it failed. If you are in Nigeria and you are saying you want to go out of Nigeria, by the time you move out of Nigeria as a small enclave, you will see another enclave within an enclave that will also start barking. So I would like us to take Southern Sudan today as an example. So I want our brothers not to take that path. I want us to see how we can put in place a mechanism that will make Nigeria great again. Each state is endowed; why can’t we look at the comparative advantage from each state, improve on it and make them better in terms of providing employment for youths rather than talking of war?

What do you make of the quit notice issued by the northern youths to the Igbos?

It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war. We need this country together that is why the slogan of the APDA is ‘stronger together.’ It is together that we can be strong. As soon as we start breaking, we are off like other countries that are not there; we have nothing to gain. So instead of using the money to buy guns to kill our people, why can’t we unite and use that money to develop our economy?

Are you comfortable with the federal government’s approach to this issue?

The federal government must be able to bring every part together and adopt a position that will better the lots of Nigerians.

Do you mean the federal government should organize another national conference?

I think we need another national conference. We need to look at our economy; we need to look at our allocation formula; we need to look at some aspects of our sharing formula. The 2014 national conference cannot address the issues because the crisis has gone beyond 2014. People are talking today of fiscal federalism, people are saying look let us go away from Nigeria. I think the federal government should sit down now and plan for another national conference; we need that conference now than ever.


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/how-we-will-displace-apc-in-2019-apda-chair/203906.html

Errrr…..

Is it just me or does this party seems docile?

Mynd44:
Errrr…..

Is it just me or does this party seems docile?

Baba no be only you oooo

Apda should get serious

They need to work on making Nigerians to know about them their manifesto, what they stand for and the rest
.its not about wrestling power from Apc

.

APc people ti takeover thread

Myd44 and his APC bmc crew una well done.


Na there u go dey when this party you called docile (but giving your APC snail-walking party headache) will displace you very soon

APDA; #StrongerTogether

I expect this party to have started strong, extensive and discreet grassroots and youth mobilization.

Instead every day is talk show. We are watching you.

Mynd44:
Errrr…..

Is it just me or does this party seems docile?

Just like your President I guess!