President Muhammadu Buhari has welcomed former Minister of Aviation, Fani Kayode as a new member of Nigeria’s governing party the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The brief event took place on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Kayode was led into the President’s office by the Caretaker Chairman of the APC and Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni and the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle.
Addressing State House Correspondents thereafter, the Caretaker Committee Chairman said, “President Buhari was pleased that the former Minister decamped to the APC.”
He said, “We are here to present our newest member of the party, Chief Femi Fani Kayode to the President and leader of the party.
“He is the newest member of APC and we just received him in appreciation and understanding of the President’s vision and magnanimity. The President received him very well. The President is a leader who shares his vision who looks towards greater Nigeria so he received him very well and commended his courage.”
In response, Fani Kayode said, “He believed that it was time for him to cross over to join hands with the President in moving Nigeria forward.”
He said, “The point is that I felt it was the appropriate time to do the right thing, to put Nigeria first and appreciate the efforts that have been made particularly in the last couple of years in terms of security; fighting insurgency, fighting terrorism.
“It is not always negative and when the time is right, we change direction to join forces and join hands to move the country forward. Doing this doesn’t mean we are enemies to anybody. Even if we are in another party, the PDP or any other party or group, we can still work together across party, regional, ethnic or religious lines.”
The former Minister insisted that Nigerians must remain united to salvage the country from those who do not mean well for the progress of the nation.
“Most importantly is the appreciation of the fact that we must remain one as a nation and build bridges, work together to move the country forward.
“The efforts of the Governors of Yobe, Zamfara and Kogi States and a number of others in their respective States and in moving this country forward and helping the President in making the country better cannot be ignored and it is very important for us, that when we see that there are good things happening we should appreciate that,” he explained.
Mr Kayode advised Nigerians not to allow any person or group to divide them or make the country disintegrate.
He said, “The most important thing is for us to understand the fact that Nigeria must not disintegrate and those that want us to end up fighting one another in a war would be put to shame. There are people that think like that and that is what informed me to come here and meet the President. He was very gracious and it is an honour to me and we will move the country forward together.”