2015 APC ticket: Buhari did not move to the APC with the genuine CPC structure - Senator Rufai Hanga

The founding National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, Senator Rufai Hanga, has said the chances of Gen.Muhammadu Buhari of flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress in 2015 are getting slimmer by the day.Hanga said this in an interview with reporters in Abuja, on Tuesday.He explained that intrigues within the opposition party were likely to prevent the former Head-of-State and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as well as Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, from picking the ticket.

Hanga, who was removed from the CPC’s leadership in controversial circumstances, said his investigations currently revealed that Buhari appeared to be losing grounds to Kwankwaso in the North-West.

He said, “I can tell you that Buhari did not move to the APC with the genuine CPC structure. All the CPC structure is with us and we went with it into the PYM.“And that is why when we decided to put a stop to our relationship with the PDM, more than 15, 000 members brought back their membership cards and dumped the party.“So you see the posture and unfortunately, I am not happy about it, but that is why Buhari is in a deep shit because he did not move to the APC with the real CPC structure. It is a naked fact that Buhari is greatly disadvantaged and no matter what anybody says, he would not win under a free and fair primary.”

When contacted, a former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct CPC, who is now a member of the APC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, however, expressed optimism that the retired general would emerge victorious.

He said it was on record that Buhari was the only living Nigerian who was able to secure 12 million votes even in a flawed election on the platform of a party which was less than a year old.Fashakin added, “At the risk of sounding immodest, Gen. Buhari is the only living Nigerian who poses the greatest threat to President Jonathan’s ambition to rule Nigeria beyond 2015.”He described Hanger as a political scavenger, who was trying to pontificate on the affairs of a family he was not a member of.Fashakin said, “He is not a member of the APC. He was used by the PDP to sabotage us. He was our interim chairman of our then party, he is a bitter man. Hanger has no stake in the APC; as such he cannot dictate to our party or members of our former platform.“As they say, the biggest masquerade in this case is Buhari. He is the one that comes out last. When he comes out even the smaller masquerades that have been out they will move and watch what the bigger masquerade does.”

Culled from Punch