President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party could take over power in the 2023 general elections if his party, the All Progressives Congress failed to agree and work together.
Buhari added that there was no influential figure in the party to endorse any aspirant for any elective position.
The nation’s leader whose tenure will elapse in 17 months also warned the leadership of his party All Progressives Congress (APC) that the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would take over if it failed to hold Convention within the specified period.
Buhari revealed all these in an interview with the National Television Authority, which was aired on Thursday evening.
Speaking on the APC National Convention earlier scheduled for February 2022, Buhari asserted that the party must work within the timeframe available, determine a substantive leadership, and chart its course ahead of the 2023 elections; otherwise, it risks being displaced by the opposition.
He said, “We have a time frame; we have to work around it because the four-year cycle is constitutional. It cannot be interfered with by anybody. So, if the party cannot agree, then the opposition will take over.
“What did the PDP do? They thought that the opposition could not come together. But when ACN, ANPP, CPC, APGA came together, before PDP realised it, they were off. They are still off.
While reacting to the question if he as an important figure in the party, will give assignments to specific persons or support any candidates, Buhari, who said he is not a kingmaker, affirmed that aspirants will have to diligently prove their mettle this time.
“My position is simple. I think I succeeded in making my position understood. I said that we start from the bottom-up, from polling units to wards, local government, state, and Abuja.
“So that the party—because I am concerned about my party—members will know that they can earn their position coming up. So when they come to Abuja, they are likely to work together.
“There is no kingmaker from Abuja. No constituency is being dictated upon by the national leadership. All constituencies are supposed to produce their leadership in our party.
“What other parties do is their own business. We have to make sure that our party members understand that they are respected, from polling units, wards, local governments, states and up to Abuja.
So those who want to be elected to any level, let them work for it. Nobody is going to appoint anybody.”
