APC Crisis: I feel guilty for being one of those who founded APC — Bashir

A former Director of Research and Strategy in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Dr Bashir Kurfi, has expressed sadness over the current state of a party he helped formed.

Kurfi in an interview with Daily Sun, said the APC no longer stands for the ideals it was based upon, but has in the past years, been infiltrated by people who view the party as nothing but a platform to further their political ambitions. This unfortunately situation, he said, made him feel guilty for creating a platform which has now been turned into a complete mess.


Answering questions on the infighting within the APC, he said, "First of all, you have to know that I was central to the negotiation of CPC and ACN which later became APC. I was the one who led the team that went to negotiate with Bola Tinubu.

"In my team on the CPC side at that time was the current Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, Kabir Yusuf, publisher of Daily Trust, Wada Maida who was Chairman of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, and Sambo Dasuki.


"We went to negotiate with Tinubu and his team. But the issue today is that when you look at the APC as a party it is just a coalition of various interests that came together to form a political party for the purpose of occupying political power; which means to enter political offices.

"So, if you look deeply and analytically, you will find that actually it is not a political party because all sorts of various political interests have come in. If you look at the team I do not know where Adams Oshiomhole comes from, maybe the ACN.



"Now, look at Buhari from the CPC and Oyegun came in from Tinubu’s perspective and Tinubu was the leader of the ACN and also a political leader in his right from his Southwest zone.

"So, when at that time they decided on who will be the chairman it was Tinubu who brought Oyegun and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo into the coalition. Then we in the CPC brought the presidential candidate with the ANPP bringing Ogbonnaya Onu, the current Minister of Science and Technology because at that time he was National Chairman of the ANPP.

"That was how the coalition stood. But subsequently they said those who participated in the coalition like Atiku Abubakar would be taken care of when they formed government.


"And when they formed government part of the coalition, Atiku Abubakar brought his boy, Garba Shehu because he had been his spokesman and Boss Mustapha. At that time Boss Mustapha was not brought on board immediately as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. It was David Babachir Lawal.

"Boss Mustapha was the MD and Chief Executive of Inland Waterways as part of the package of Atiku Abubakar. So, there was no ideological correlation between all these compradors in the political setting.



"Then subsequently APC lost their authority and integrity because it looked like there was no cohesion as a political party as it was not based on any ideological clarity, but just a mere collaboration of people.

"Unfortunately, the person who is supposed to be the leader of the party who is the president, Muhammadu Buhari under who the party is in power has a lackadaisical attitude in addressing political problems within his political party.


"If you are a correct political leader there is no way you will allow your house to be on fire. If you sit down and watch your house on fire it is basically going to consume you. Even if it doesn’t consume you as a person it will consume the package, the physical development you have as dividend of democracy from your political party.

"So, now in APC everybody is on his own. The governors are on their own, the ministers are on their own and even take people from other ministerial or other executive positions you find out that most of the people who are in government now in the APC, alot of them have no active activism in the CPC, which is the main party of the president and also in the ACN.



"Quite a number of them are also PDP people who are the ones running the country as they wish and then getting the opportunity of a president who does not seem to care, who restricts himself inside the Villa so that even if he is coming from the airport to the Villa he goes by helicopter.

"Therefore, he would not know if there is a pothole between the airport and the Presidential Vila. So, that presents a problem to our nation state. So, now you could see he relies on some very few individuals.


"These few individuals who surround him are his the so-called security apparatus and close political associates, including those who are his relations.

"What you can know from his actions and utterances is that he does not know what is going on in the country because he relies on this people who will tell him lies. Otherwise, how do you explain what is going on in the country? In his home state, Katsina…I am also from Katsina; on a daily basis bandits will kiII not less than 50 to 100 people. The implication of this is grave."