Mega party promoters wasting their time, says Lasun

Femi Makinde, Osogbo

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Lasun Yussuff, has advised politicians, who are planning to float a mega party, to displace the ruling All Progressives Congress to have a rethink.

The Deputy Speaker, who represents Osogbo/Olorunda/Orolu/Irepodun Federal Constituency at the lower legislative chamber, said forming a mega political party was a waste of time because such party would not be able to wrest power from the ruling APC.

Speaking with journalists in Osogbo on Friday after donating tractors worth about N60m to the Osun State chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, the lawmaker said the ruling party was not in crisis contrary to what people were saying.

He, however, admitted that the party had some misunderstandings.

Yussuff stated that the APC could not have won the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states if the party was truly in crisis, stating that the misunderstanding in the APC would be sorted out soon.

He said, “Whoever is trying to divide the APC in a manner that will suggest that another bigger party can come and win election is just deceiving himself. I am a politician, I have been in politics for the past 33 years; I know what it takes to build a party and I know that political parties don’t just spring up overnight.

“The APC is made up of the ACN, CPC ANPP and a little bit of APGA. Those parties had history before the APC was consummated. So, the APC is new in name but it is populated by older politicians who have been around for long.

“But anybody is forming a mega party now or call it any party, I don’t think they will have that ability to muzzle anybody out of the system. We know ourselves.”

Although the Deputy Speaker is said to be preparing to contest the governorship election in Osun State in 2018, he was evasive when asked to confirm the news.

Speaking on the foreign exchange crisis facing the nation, Yussuff said there was nothing anybody could do to stop this until Nigeria was able  to produce locally at least 70 per cent of food items consumed by its citizens.