By Bode Olagoke with agency reports
Abuja
A professor of political economy and former special assistant in the Second Republic government of former President Shehu Shagari, Pat Utomi, has said that the current leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been very poor and underperforming.
Utomi, who is a chieftain of the APC, called on the founding fathers to reform the party to correct some of its lapses.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York yesterday, the former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said his party APC had to be reformed to refocus it to its founding ideals.
According to him, some people were more interested in taking titles in the party, rather than building it.
“I am a member of the APC, I am one of the real founding members of the APC. Forget that because some of us committed more to building real stuff and others rushed to take titles; but we founded the APC.
“It’s not been what we thought it would be, let’s be very honest, the party has under-performed, the party’s structure has been poor. The party leadership has been poor; government and the party have not worked well together.
“But we shall reform it from within by God’s grace and make it work better. We have to wish on God’s grace and hope that things work differently. Anything that works, that will make a difference, I will do,” he said.
Prof. Utomi while lamenting poor leadership his party has shown in the last two years, said that: “We are not thinking development, not thinking growth of our country, not thinking our children and their future, we’re thinking politics.
“Many of the people in positions of authority are so consumed by politics; they don’t think about the Nigerian people. I think this obsession with who is winning the next election, can take Nigeria completely away from the path of development.”
