The interim national chairman of the newly-registered Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA), Alhaji Mohammed Shittu Kabiru, visited Minna, Niger State capital on Saturday.
His mission? To brief Nigeria’s former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, on the purpose of the new party.
Shittu was received in Minna by Babangida at his Hilltop mansion where he was told about the need for the party and the cardinal points of its manifesto particularly the quest to restructure Nigeria when wins power in 2019. Shittu also told his host that the party intends to give the youths of Nigeria a sense of belonging in the Nigerian project.
denied that Babangida and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar were among the financiers of the party.
Asked why he thinks APDA will win the presidential race, Shittu who claims they have 15 million members already, replied: “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.
“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.”
Dispelling the rumour that Babangida, Atiku and former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, were APDA’s sponsors, he added: “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.”
