Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has taken a swipe at supporters of President Bola Tinubu and loyalists of former President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing them of “chasing shadows” in their quest to gain political favor.
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Lawal criticized certain members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), saying they have abandoned the party’s core values—particularly its focus on the welfare of the Talakawas (the poor and vulnerable).
According to him, any true CPC loyalist who still believes in the founding principles of the movement should be working to oust any administration that “brings pain and impoverishment to the people,” including the current government.
“These guys have given us a reason to come against them because the CPC is a Talakawa Movement. It’s a movement that has at heart the needs and feelings of the lower class. That is our ideology, which we learned from Buhari.
“The primary aim is how to serve the disenfranchised, discriminated people in the society, which this government has taken as a religion to cause suffering and marginalisation. It is as if the sight of a poor person annoys them. So they want to starve them to death.
“Now if you are an original CPC person, it will pain you. It will push you into action involuntarily to change this type of system that is out to destroy and marginalise the underprivileged in society. That is what Buhari stands for. That is who we are and what we learned from him,” Lawal said.
When asked whether Buhari had given the coalition his blessing, as former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai claimed, Lawal kicked against such insinuation.
He said, “First of all, we don’t need his (Buhari) blessing. We only needed to tell him what we wanted to do because we were adults. It is also not like we will go and tell Buhari to follow us. Of course, we are mature and intelligent people.
“Even if Buhari says, hey, gentlemen, I will join you. It is our responsibility to say, No, Oga please keep off. You are too big for us. We don’t want to involve you. You are part of this government. Please remain there until you are fed up.”
Lawal, a founding member of the defunct CPC and former ally of Tinubu, is a key stakeholder in the ongoing coalition involving Atiku, Obi and El-Rufai. He insisted that the opposition alliance and the planned merger of parties were already sealed.
“We understand ‘these people’ and the APC governors went to greet him on Sallah. I was not there when they were talking but we eventually found out what they went there to say. And, of course, we know how to handle it.”
Lawal also took a swipe at former Nasarawa Governor Tanko Al-Makura, ex-Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu, and other old CPC members, describing them as “black sheep of the defunct party.”
His response followed Shittu’s comment on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where the former minister labeled the CPC a “dead horse” and described Lawal, former Attorney General Abubakar Malami and other aggrieved CPC chieftains as “mischief makers.”
“I can never leave the APC. I’m a very loyal member of the party. I have not seen what would justify my leaving. That is one. Number two, when you talk of CPC, you are talking of a dead horse. The party has since gone into oblivion.
“We had to dissolve CPC, AC and other parties for us to become APC. So now it becomes convenient for some people, for whatever selfish and self-serving reasons, to use the glorious name of CPC. The laughable thing about it is that they even say some people cannot talk on behalf of the CPC, as if the CPC is exclusive to them.
“To the best of my knowledge, I know the former Attorney General of the Federation is one of the leaders and a few other people there. I don’t see what the grievance is. They are just saying that they won’t go again with the APC,” Shittu had said.
Reacting, Lawal described Shittu as a perfect example of the “black sheep” within the legacy CPC structure.
“We know that not everybody can withstand hunger. Even in the CPC, there were black sheep. Some people joined CPC hoping to get one or two things. But at heart, they were not CPC. Such people might not be able to sustain hunger.
“This government has made the majority of Nigerians hungry. Not everybody is like us who can’t tolerate hunger, injustice, tribal or religious bigotry. Of course, those people who came in as mercenaries and other benefits are free to leave. After all, there are still positions.
“There are still positions Bola Tinubu will give out. I don’t think the ambassadorial list and board members are complete. There’s a rumour that he might even rejig his cabinet. So quite a lot of people are free to haggle for those positions, be it from CPC or anywhere,” Lawal said.
Efforts to reach Malami and Al-Makura for their reactions were unsuccessful, as they neither picked calls nor responded to messages sent for clarification as of press time.
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