A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Ibrahim Adejo has urged Hussein Idris (Idrisima) to formally join the ruling party, saying the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is not part of the Rainbow Coalition and that the Tinubu Support Group (TSG) is not a political party.
Speaking to journalists in Lokoja on Friday, Adejo said a back-door arrangement would not benefit Idrisima and urged him to follow the example of Murtala Ajaka, the former SDP governorship candidate, who returned to the APC after the last governorship election.
Adejo said Idrisima was being misled by those advising him otherwise. He added that the APC was willing to welcome SDP members, including Idrisima and his supporters.
He said Idrisima, who has declared his membership of the TSG while remaining in the SDP, may not have been properly advised.
“Politicians can belong to party support groups or affiliated organisations, but a support group is not superior to a political party,” Adejo said. “You can belong to a party’s support group only if you are a member of that party.”
Adejo referred to Adeleke and Soludo as leaders of their respective parties and states. He said that while candidates in Idrisima’s party were working for their own presidential candidate, Idrisima had announced his affiliation with the TSG but was not, in Adejo’s view, working for other party candidates in the region.
He said those telling Idrisima that the TSG was not working for other APC candidates in the state were not being sincere, adding that President Bola Tinubu was a national leader of the APC.
Adejo said the APC in Kogi East was working not only for Tinubu but also for all the party’s candidates. He added that the party would not be drawn into social media politics or abandon its candidates for someone he described as having little political standing at home.
He said Idrisima’s decision to join the TSG was politically welcome, but it would not lead the party to neglect its own candidates.
Adejo acknowledged that Idrisima had supported retired Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin in the last election and suggested that Jibrin might be seeking to reciprocate through the TSG. However, he said the TSG was part of the APC and warned that Faleke would not tolerate political indiscipline.
