Adedokun Waliyu 
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has faulted the claim by Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai that a cabal exists in the Presidential Villa working against the aspiration of the party standard bearer, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Kaduna State governor who made the claim in several interviews maintained that the cabal whose anointed candidate lost out in the last June presidential convention of the APC won by Senator Tinubu are plotting to frustrate his victory at the polls.
But the APC national chairman said he was not aware of any cabal in the Villa.
He said: “On the issue of cabal in the Villa, well I don’t belong to the mafia world and it takes a mafia man to identify another mafia. I am not one. I am not aware that there is a cabal. I have heard and read about it in the papers but the Presidency has denied it. I don’t work in the presidency but I trust the presidency and I believe very strongly that there is no such thing as cabal in the presidency.
“When people try to do a thing and they cannot get their way through or get what they want, then they start associating or attributing that to some imaginary force or interest group stronger than their own”.
The APC national chairman also dismissed media reports of failing health of his party presidential candidate as mere speculation.
He said the APC candidate would not surrender his office to the machination of any group.
“I am just hearing a new terminology, ‘proxy presidency’. Well, you are entitled to your thoughts. I cannot question that, but, Tinubu, once elected will leave up to the expectations of that office to its fullest. That I can assure you.
“Tinubu is younger by 10 years than USA’s Biden. Why can’t we give Tinubu the benefit of the doubt that he can succeed as president?
“Tinubu is not the kind of person who will surrender his office to anybody. I am not aware of any challenge of ill-health associated with him. Since 1999, I have seen him exhibit good health. I have not had any occasion seeing him complain about the campaigns or that there were tasks given to him and he complained of tiredness”.
Speaking on the security threats to the conduct of the general elections, particularly in the South-East agitating for a separate nation, Senator Adamu advised them to give peace a chance.
“On the issue of what happens in the South-East, while I am hoping and looking forward to elections taking place in the South-East, I want to emphasize that election is a civic responsibility. It is not compulsory. You can go and vote or decide not to vote and then results would be declared based on the few who vote.
“There is a limit to what we can do. There is a limit to what we can take or tolerate. There have been so many challenges. There have been killings and arson in that part of the country, and some people are even challenging the sovereignty of this country. And just as much as there are people who want to divide this country, there are more of us working for the country. So, in the end, with God, we will see who is stronger.
“My appeal is that they should try to see reason. They should give peace a chance. If they allow elections to take place, by God, APC will win the South-East region. There is nothing wrong with their agitation. Self-determination.
“It is allowed but when it involves lives of people, killings maiming, destruction of property, we don’t have the stomach for it. It is my hope that they will be apprehended and the law will take its cause.”
