By David Torough, Abuja

Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has dismissed insinuations that he was planning to dump the party for ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.Speaking with PDP women members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), who visited him to help save the party from total collapse, the former Vice President insisted on a coalition to push out the APC-led government in 2027.

Atiku Abubakar said that the coalition movement was not just a political strategy, but a necessity to challenge the ruling party and rebuild the country. It was gathered that Atiku told the women, led by the former Minister of Women Affairs and ex- National Women Leader of the party, Hajia Inna Ciroma, that a coalition is workable, and would assure good results.According to him, the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, the ruling party in the Second Republic, had formed an alliance with the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP, and it was called the NPN-NPP accord.He added that when the coalition is achieved, the name of PDP will not be affected.Atiku Abubakar was said to have told the PDP women about the status of the pan-Nigerian coalition that he was building in conjunction with other leaders and stakeholders across political divides and regions.He informed them that the movement was being powered by Nigerians desirous of reclaiming and rebuilding their country from across the nooks and crannies of our country.No way Nigeria can be one-party state – Gov SuleNasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule yesterday said despite the gale of defection, there is no way Nigeria would become a one-party state.Governor Sule also said that people are defecting from the opposition political parties to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, because of the reforms put in place by President Bola Tinubu, which he said have started yielding positive results.Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the governor said that every politician would always like to identify with the ruling party.He said that he came to visit the President, who is the leader of the APC, to discuss state matters.He said, “I have two major issues to discuss with him. One, about my state, and two, about my party, especially relating to my state. So, those were the two major issues we discussed. You know, in Nasarawa State, we are trying to do a lot.“Just yesterday, we received special recognition in the areas of agriculture and renewed energy, that is, mini-grids that we are having all over the country. So, you know, Nasarawa now has the highest number of mini-grids in the country because of the effort in agriculture and mining. So, those were the kind of things we discussed with Mr. President.”Fielding questions on his impression about the arrays of defections seen from the opposition to the ruling party, he said that it was Tinubu’s performance that was attracting the opposition elements to the ruling party.According to him, “It’s a reflection of the performance of our party and the performance of Mr. President. Mr. President is carrying out a lot of reforms. We saw the first reforms in the area of the unification of the effects.“We saw another one in the removal of subsidy. We have seen one now in the power sector. In fact, one of the ones that interests me that we are doing is the one on skill acquisition and agriculture.“So, when you are beginning to see a lot of these efforts, a lot of these reforms, nearly every reform will come with its ups and downs. You know, but the advantages of some of these reforms far outweigh the disadvantages. So, as a result of that, people who are happy with what they are seeing are the people who are returning to the party.“So, I think the party is doing well, and for that reason, the President is also doing well. And that is the reason why people are joining.”Responding to the insinuation that the country may be heading towards a one-party state, he said:“I think I have answered this twice or three times now. I don’t believe, by the slightest of imagination, that we are going to be a one-party state. If you look at it, no matter how successful we are, even America, for instance, has the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, you still have the Green Party and so many other political parties that you don’t hear about. So, the same thing with Nigeria.“No matter what happens, there are people who are going to be at another party. Actually, we don’t even want Nigeria to be a one-party state. We just want to be the dominant party.“We just want to be the winning party. We just want to be the party. If we can win 90% of the votes, okay, that’s it.“The other parties can win 10% of the votes. I’m not being sarcastic. I’m just trying to be serious with you.“There is no way we can be a one-party state. But every party wants to be the dominant party. Every party wants to win elections.“Every party wants to be able to give back to society and to give back to the people. And I think that’s what our party is doing.”Giving an update on lithium battery production in his state after its launch, Governor Sule said: “Well, Nigerians actually should know this. We commissioned the first one that you are talking about last year by the Senate President on behalf of Mr. President, and that’s about 3 million metric tons per annum.“In the next two months, you are coming to commission another one that is going to be three times the size of that one in Nasarawa State. And then there are about three other ones that are coming up by the end of the year.“So, we are beginning to see more and more development of lithium and tantalite and so many other minerals that we are having in the state.“So these are the kinds of things that I talk to you when I say reforms about things that are happening. And when I mentioned to you that we are having the highest number of mini-grids in the country, you know, people didn’t even know why.“One of the reasons is because there are so many of these small-scale companies that are operating, you know, agriculture, mining also, and they all need power.“So what they do is that they require a mini-grid in their own location so that it can power their operations. And we are lucky in Nasarawa State, you know, it has been very peaceful. You know, so that’s what a lot of investors are looking forward to.