2019: APC In South Africa, Unbothered About Defections, Declare Support For Buhari

APC South Africa Express Indifference At Defections, Canvass For Buhari’s Re-Election In 2019

South Africa chapter of the All Progressives Congress have called on Nigerians in the diaspora to support the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement by the Chairman of the chapter, Mr. Bola Babarinde, it said the president had so far acquitted himself remarkably well as a leader and deserved another term.

Babarinde urged Nigerians abroad to constantly get in touch with politics at home and contribute to efforts to re-elect the president and the APC at all levels.

He said that the APC South Africa chapter had been holding town hall meetings to mobilise the support of Nigerians in that country for the president.

“We are also reaching out to Nigerians in the Diaspora online to understand the politics at home and why they should mobilise their family back home to support the current administration,” the chairman said.

According to him, the chapter has also been telling those who have the means of travelling to Nigeria frequently to use the opportunity to get their Permanent Voter Cards to enable them vote.

The chairman said Diasporan chapters contributed immensely to the success of the party during the last election, adding that the support would be more formidable in 2019, especially with the establishment of more Diasporan chapters.

On the harvest of defections in recent weeks, Babarinde said the practice had been part of the country’s political history.

Senate President Bukola Saraki and others from the APC was nothing to worry about adding that it was the members’ defections and mergers of parties that gave birth to the APC before the 2015 general elections.

He recalled that in the 1960s and 1970s, the political landscape was characterised by political alignments and re-alignments through defections and party mergers.

Babarinde insisted that the APC remained strong and that Nigerians still trusted the party to deliver the goods.

He said defections were expected into other parties, as some people might not be comfortable with the “practical way the president [was] fighting corruption.”

“The development should not bother us. This is time for all progressives to come together as a formidable force to continue the change agenda and renew the mandate for the president and other APC political office holders,’’ the chairman said.