Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on Media and Publicity, has revealed why he will never be a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Adesina in a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday admitted that he is “a Buharist, a firm believer in the ideals of that honest man, the Mai Gaskiya from Daura, in Katsina State, though I am not a registered member of the APC.”
While responding to claims that the APC lost in his polling unit during the just-concluded Osun governorship election, Adesina noted that “It was laughable for some people to try and rope me into Osun State politics,
“The APC had, indeed, won my ward, in the Post Office area of Ipetumodu by 176 to PDP’s 130 votes. But it didn’t matter. It just shows how heinous and petty some people can be.”
“Yes, I agree that people’s voices and votes do count, and we will talk more about that, courtesy of President Muhammadu Buhari. My position is this. I work for an APC government, and it is my preferred party. But member? Not so.
I have always rooted for good APC candidates and I would have loved it if Governor Gboyega Oyetola had won in Osun last weekend. I’d known him since he was Chief of Staff to the former Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. They were both at the reception held for me in my town by the then Kabiyesi, when I was appointed media adviser to the President in 2015. Gov Oyetola had been focused, sure-footed.
“But I’d also known Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, since he was a Senator. He had even paid me a brotherly visit at the Presidential Villa in 2017.
“So, I was a stakeholder in the Osun election in many ways, but it would be fickle for anybody to call me a part of the APC structure in the State. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, APC is my preferred party, but I’m not a member, and won’t likely be, with my eyes set on farming and media work after leaving government service.
“Without prejudice to whatever decision Gov Oyetola and the party would eventually take on the outcome, the election has held, and a winner has emerged.
“I would have preferred that the Governor be re-elected to continue with the steady, unobtrusive job he is doing for the State, but the people have decided otherwise. That was also the position of the President, a fair and just man, if ever there was one.
“By Sunday morning when ‘come had come to become,’ the President did not waste time in causing me to issue a statement congratulating Senator Adeleke on his electoral victory. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared him winner, and so it must be.”
