Senate spokesman, Ajibola Basiru, has said that irrespective of the ongoing defections in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will win the presidential election in 2023.
Basiru made this statement when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
He said: “We will arrest the situation and ensure that all of us work assiduously for the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the platform of the APC in the 2023 general elections. I’m very optimistic that our party will win the 2023 presidential election and I will also say that just as we have senators that feel aggrieved that they are not returning, you will also know that in those constituencies, there are also senators who are hitching to ensure that they win elections and get it into the 10th assembly.”
The senate spokesman said that he believed that the “party leadership is also doing its best. For instance even in Osogbo (Osun State), there was a meeting by the national secretary with aspirants of the party across the state and national assembly urging them to work for the success of the party in July 16 election and also at the February 2023 elections”
He also stated that some senators are not returning to the party because they have higher callings away from politics.
“It’s not just some of the senators are not returning because they lost at the primaries, some of them have nominations for the gubernatorial positions and some senators have been elected not to even go back. Some did not want to go back to the senate because of higher callings and some because of some of the endeavors they want to achieve.”
Basiru also said it was true that some of the senators were having issues but they would soon be resolved.
There have been concerns among political observers that 22 senators from the APC were planning to join other parties.
Most of them felt dissatisfied with the outcome of the primary elections in their states.
Reacting to the threat of possible mass defection of the senators, Basiru said it was impossible for those senators to jump ship.
The Senate spokesman said the ruling party was working to amicably resolve the issues, adding that those saying the senators were leaving the ruling party were fantasising.
He said: “It is a mere wishful thinking that 22 senators will leave our party. Yes, they have challenges and I know they will weather the storm and bounce back soonest.
“I know some senators have left the Senate because they have taken some other assignments. Some won’t return because they have won the governorship primaries in their states.
“Some contested the presidential election. Some did not actually want to come back to the Senate because of higher calling and other assignments.
“The issues affecting those Senators will soon be resolved and those who are calling for their defection will have nothing to say again,” he said.
