Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has criticised those seeking the endorsement of former President Muhammadu Buhari, including loyalists of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and some chieftains of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, describing their efforts as “chasing shadows.”
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Lawal, a founding member of the CPC and one-time close ally of Tinubu, stated that true adherents of the CPC’s ideology—rooted in the defence of Nigeria’s poor and marginalised—have a responsibility to oppose any administration that causes hardship, including Tinubu’s.
“These guys have given us a reason to come against them because the CPC is a Talakawa Movement. It’s a movement that has at heart the needs and feelings of the lower class. That is our ideology, which we learned from Buhari.
“The primary aim is how to serve the disenfranchised, discriminated people in the society, which this government has taken as a religion to cause suffering and marginalisation. It is as if the sight of a poor person annoys them. So they want to starve them to death.
“Now if you are an original CPC person, it will pain you. It will push you into action involuntarily to change this type of system that is out to destroy and marginalise the underprivileged in society. That is what Buhari stands for. That is who we are and what we learned from him,” Lawal said.
Responding to claims by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai that Buhari had given his blessing to a proposed opposition coalition involving himself, Lawal, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, the former SGF maintained that Buhari’s approval was not needed.
“First of all, we don’t need his (Buhari) blessing. We only needed to tell him what we wanted to do because we were adults. It is also not like we will go and tell Buhari to follow us. Of course, we are mature and intelligent people.
“Even if Buhari says, hey, gentlemen, I will join you. It is our responsibility to say, No, Oga please keep off. You are too big for us. We don’t want to involve you. You are part of this government. Please remain there until you are fed up,” he said.
Lawal also hinted that discussions around a political realignment ahead of the 2027 general elections were already advanced. He confirmed that efforts to form a merger of opposition parties had reached a concrete stage.
“We understand ‘these people’ and the APC governors went to greet him on Sallah. I was not there when they were talking but we eventually found out what they went there to say. And, of course, we know how to handle it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lawal did not hold back in his criticism of certain former CPC stalwarts, such as ex-Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura and former Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu. He described them as the “black sheep” of the defunct party.
His comments followed an appearance by Shittu on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where the former minister downplayed the relevance of CPC, describing it as defunct and accusing Lawal, Malami, and others of being “mischief makers.”
“I can never leave the APC. I’m a very loyal member of the party. I have not seen what would justify my leaving. That is one. Number two, when you talk of CPC, you are talking of a dead horse. The party has since gone into oblivion.
“We had to dissolve CPC, AC and other parties for us to become APC. So now it becomes convenient for some people, for whatever selfish and self-serving reasons, to use the glorious name of CPC. The laughable thing about it is that they even say some people cannot talk on behalf of the CPC, as if the CPC is exclusive to them.
“To the best of my knowledge, I know the former Attorney General of the Federation is one of the leaders and a few other people there. I don’t see what the grievance is. They are just saying that they won’t go again with the APC,” Shittu had said.
In his response, Lawal dismissed Shittu’s position, labelling him as someone who could not endure hardship and as such, lacked the commitment to CPC’s founding values.
“We know that not everybody can withstand hunger. Even in the CPC, there were black sheep. Some people joined CPC hoping to get one or two things. But at heart, they were not CPC. Such people might not be able to sustain hunger.
“This government has made the majority of Nigerians hungry. Not everybody is like us who can’t tolerate hunger, injustice, tribal or religious bigotry. Of course, those people who came in as mercenaries and other benefits are free to leave. After all, there are still positions.
“There are still positions Bola Tinubu will give out. I don’t think the ambassadorial list and board members are complete. There’s a rumour that he might even rejig his cabinet. So quite a lot of people are free to haggle for those positions, be it from CPC or anywhere,” Lawal stated.
