The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced the profiling of opposition members currently heading various agencies and parastatals of the Federal Government as it pushes through a recent threat to sack remnants of PDP members still holding plum jobs in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the APC, had threatened to unmask and call for the sack of all PDP members who were still holding political appointments in the administration despite the change of government in 2015.
In what appears a house cleaning exercise, the party last week summoned all heads of Federal Government agencies and parastatals to ascertain their political loyalty/affiliation with a view to throwing out those whose loyalty was with the opposition.
A source in the APC national headquarters confirmed the development, saying the leadership of the party was determined to effect changes in agencies and parastatals of the Federal Government based on party affiliation.
It was gathered that heads of agencies and parastatals of government were coming and going from the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
“As the national chairman said, the APC cannot afford to arm the opposition. Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, made several appointments into federal agencies at the twilight of the PDP administration, and these appointments are tenured.
“Most of the occupants of these appointments have finished their terms and many chieftains of the party are not happy that PDP members are still holding on to these positions,” our source stated.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on assumption of office as chairman of the party declared his desire to rid the system of PDP loyalists still holding political positions in the government, a goal he restated last week when he inaugurated the 39-member non-working committee of the party.
He said, “We are aware that even as at today, we still have a lot of PDP people occupying very important positions in federal agencies.
“We will do everything possible to purge these elements out of the system because we are a party of change.
“They are the conservative right-wing party. We cannot entrust to conservative forces an agenda for change. Government is not in the Villa. Villa is the head of government.
“Government is in the agencies – what they do, how they do it, the quality of service delivery and the style of that service delivery.
“That is how the ordinary man interfaces with power and if these agencies are in the hands of those who do not believe in our change agenda, then we cannot expect miracles from them.
“And for those who are aggrieved as to how certain things are done, those who question that they do not seem to see the difference because, substantially, PDP is still managing these agencies.
“So, we have a duty to convince the federal executive that we have no business, this government has no business, with any PDP in sensitive federal agencies and using their old tactics in service delivery. That, I believe, is a task that all of us must pursue.
“I believe that we now must work consciously to ensure that in replacing, we replace sinners with believers.
“Believers are those who are card-carrying members of our party and before we go outside the party family, we must convince ourselves that the persons we are taking, we are taking him because we do not have that particular expertise within the family, but even so, he must first take the card and demonstrate loyalty, because if you do not believe in a process, you cannot be entrusted with the management of that process.
“It is not because we are hungry to let our people have jobs, but because I have no confidence that PDP appointees can drive the changes that APC promised.
“APC promises must be kept by APC activists at a managerial level, at board level, and at the political level.”
When this reporter accosted one of the heads of agencies, who heads a tertiary medical institution, he hinted that they had been summoned at the party’s secretariat but didn’t give details.
Our source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also disclosed that the party was looking at leveraging on “support that comes from these agencies” in the build-up to the 2019 election, citing assertions by Oshiomhole and President Muhammadu Buhari to the effect that the PDP remained the richest political party in the country.
Source: today.ng
