Former APC chairman Abdullahi Ganduje has described the PDP as a defunct political party while speaking about ex-Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa

Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as a defunct political party.

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Ganduje made the remark while referring to former Delta State governor and ex-vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his brother.

The former Kano State governor spoke on Wednesday at the Annual Conference of the Forum of Former Deputy Governors of Nigeria in Abuja.

While introducing Okowa, Ganduje said, “My big brother, the former governor of Delta State and a former vice presidential candidate of the defunct party, PDP.”

Ganduje also spoke on Nigeria’s history, nation building and the need for citizens to develop a stronger sense of patriotism.

According to him, British colonial authorities brought Nigeria’s diverse territories together largely to serve their economic interests and secure access to raw materials.

He argued that resources from Nigeria were used to support industrial development in Britain during the colonial period.

Ganduje urged Nigerians to view the country’s diversity as an asset rather than a source of division.

“On the issue of nation building, we have to believe in our nation, do we actually believe in our nation Nigeria? Do we actually believe that our diversity is an asset and not a liability? The way we are moving our diversity is becoming a liability,” he said.

He said the colonial authorities encountered existing systems of governance when they arrived in Nigeria through missionary and other routes.

“The colonial masters when they came to Nigeria through missionary and other routes, they found us and our old system of governance,” Ganduje said.

He added that the colonial administration was primarily interested in using Nigeria as a source of raw materials for industrial development.

“And in order to promote protection in their own country, they decided to put us together so that we can work and produce raw materials for their own industrial development, that was their primary objective and not an objective that we should come together and become a stronger country,” he said.

Ganduje credited Nigeria’s First Republic politicians with developing the nationalist movement that eventually led to independence.

“We need to thank our First Republic politicians who developed a sense of nationalism in order to get independence, form political parties, and they succeeded in getting our independence,” he said.

He also noted that Nigeria achieved independence without the armed struggle witnessed in some other countries.

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“We are so lucky that we didn’t carry arms like other nations to get independence,” Ganduje added.