Tanko-Yakasai, Ganduje’s aide who was sacked for criticising Buhari, leaves APC

Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, former spokesman to Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, has left the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

In a statement issued on Monday, Tanko-Yakasai said he is leaving the party with immediate effect.

Tanko-Yakasai was sacked by Ganduje in February 2021, for making “continued unguarded comments” and criticising President Muhammadu Buhari.

He also accused the APC government of failing to protect the lives and property of Nigerians in the wake of kidnappings and gunmen attacks across the country.

Announcing his departure from the APC on Monday, Tanko-Yakasai said the party has failed to fulfil its promises to Nigerians.

Tanko-Yakasai said he will make his next political decision soon.

“I travelled to different parts of the country to campaign for the party at the local, state and federal levels. I stuck out my neck, risked my life, gave my word and trust, and extended my belief in a party that we all thought in 2015 will usher in the leadership that will answer the cry of millions of Nigerians for good government, social stability, and material prosperity,” the statement reads.

“By 2019 we reelected the APC again to manage the affairs of the country with the hope that its first term of four years was not enough to clear the mess it inherited from the defeated PDP administration.

“Regretfully, the trust and confidence we reposed in the APC (the government as well as the party) on two occasions (first and second terms) was betrayed. If anything, things became worse in the second term. The benefit of the doubt we gave the party in the first term vanished as we moved deeper into the second term.

“On the contrary, they perceive themselves as performing excellently. They douse themselves in self-praise, self-congratulations, and self-centred behaviour in public office. Many people in this country will rightly see their conduct as delusional.

“But the privileged ones in the office today hardly notice the reality surrounding the lives of ordinary citizens. No food, no portable water, no stable power supply, no jobs for the youth, no regular salary for public servants, no pensions and gratuity paid, no respect for government agreement with university teachers, no control over inflation, no security of life and property, no defeat of the stubborn insurgency in the north-east, with petroleum theft in the south-south becoming an existential threat to the entire nation.

“I made several attempts to highlight some of these failures from the inside, but unfortunately amends were not made, and those in power were averse to my corrective steps. Consequently, l was suspended from office in October 2020, arrested and sacked from my position in the Kano State Government in February 2021.

“I have therefore reached a point in my life where I have decided to embark on a new political journey to ensure that I stick to my beliefs and principles. It is in this light that, after due consultation with my political mentors, constituents, friends and family, I resolved to exit the APC. My membership of the party ceases from today, 21st March, 2022.

“In the interim, I will take a few weeks to further consult, reflect and digest the political terrain, before deciding on my next line of action.”