Lawan: Opposition parties disunited because they lack father figure like Buhari

Senate President Ahmad Lawan says opposition parties are “probably” disunited because they lack a father figure like President Muhammadu Buhari.

The senate president described Buhari as a father that ensures disagreements are settled among party members, and that everybody remains united.

Lawan spoke on Thursday after the leadership of the national assembly met with the president ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention.

The senate president said Buhari emphasised the need for members of the ruling party to be united ahead of the exercise.

He said the party is committed to ensuring that the APC has a successful and peaceful convention.

“I want to say that this meeting with Mr President has given us more energy. We believe that there is a father, at least in our party, there is a president who will ensure that once there are disagreements he is able to call everybody to order and ensure that the family continues to remain united and that is what we have been able to achieve over the years,” Lawan said.

“Well, I don’t want to be very partisan. But of course, when you have a father in the family and a mother, then you’re likely to have a stable family. And when you have only one or none in the family, you are not likely to be successful, the family is likely to be disunited, and that is what other political parties probably are facing.

“And I want to add here, finally, to say that we are committed to ensuring that this political party does not only have a successful convention but a very successful, peaceful, and safe electioneering campaign during 2022/2023 general campaigns and the general elections, by the grace of God.

“We’ll see Nigerians voting once again for APC because we have so far done so much in the areas that matter for the people of this country. But that is not to say that we are not facing some challenges we are, but we are squaring up to ensure that we deal with those challenges.”