APC will exist for 200 years – Presidency

The Presidency has assured that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will exist for more than two hundred years contrary to insinuations by some Nigerians that the party in power may not survive long as a political party due to crises rocking the party at all level.

The pinnacle of power also defended the action of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in invading the premises of the Sun Newspaper in Lagos on Monday, which has attracted condemnations in some quarters.

Speaking at the national secretariat of the party on Tuesday in Abuja during the official presentation of his book titled “APC: the Making of the Change Agents” to the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, said he was not aware of any crises rocking APC at any level.

When asked in an interview to justify what he said earlier while presenting the book to Chief Oyegun on how many years he initially said APC will exist, Obla said: “I said in the next 200 years APC will be alive. Yes, why not? Because we have done very well and we are going to remain in power as long as we continue to do well, we believe Nigerian people will always vote for us”.

While justifying the evasion of the Sun Newspapers in Lagos by the EFCC, the presidential aide said: “EFCC has not gone after the media. What happened is that The Sun Newspaper was under an order of interim forfeiture, so they went there to look at the property; it was not taken away and not deprecated, and nothing is wrong with that.

“They didn’t go there because the Sun published a news story that is considered against EFCC or government. They went there to do their work as part of their mandate to fight financial crimes, and you know that the media house is owned by a former governor who is under trial. As we are talking now, he is under trial and if you are under investigation, EFCC has the power to go to court and get an order of interim forfeiture pending the hearing of the case against you”.

Also speaking, the APC National Chairman, who described the book as an insider account of the merger process that culminated in the formation of the APC, encouraged other stakeholders who “participated intimately” in the formation of the APC to document their record of events for posterity.

He commended the contributions and sacrifices of chairmen of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC – former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; new PDP entrants amongst other stakeholders in the formation of the APC.