Dr. Muiz Banire, (SAN) is the National Legal Adviser of All Progressives Congress (APC). However, the erudite lawyer opened up on the shortcomings of the party recently… “Something is wrong with our party, APC. Certainly there is a disconnect somewhere, and we have been trying to address this. When I say that there is a disconnect, that means that we need to reform. Before, APC was not used to conducting primaries for contestants or aspirants, we were used to handpicking candidates, but now we have started conducting primaries to pick candidates, and I believe that has helped to reduce rancor in the party, unlike before when we were handpicking. They have already tagged us rebels but we are undaunted. If the APC leadership called it rebellion, we don’t mind. We see ourselves as reformers. I always believe in the constitution.”

“Let’s follow the constitution and what the law says, this has always been my position. Some people in APC who believe in the status quo see me as a threat to entrenched interests. But I will continue to canvass equity, fairness and justice. Collision is part of life. My position is that honorable people must always stand for something. If you are con­vinced that this is the right position, you must stand by that position. As far as I’m concerned, our crusade for reform is not about Tinubu, it is about the need to reform the system. It is a systemic problem. I don’t personalise issues. It is the party’s leadership that is concerned, and Tinubu is not part of the leadership exco in Lagos State or at the national level. It is the leadership at those two levels that must do something about these reforms.”

“There is something called rule of law, and once you fail to abide with the rule of law, what you have is rule of man. And what is the rule of man? It means tyranny and oppression. Some of us are not crazy about position. We are in politics to add value, and if they make it difficult for you to add value to a particular system, you look for another platform. You can see that we even have a platform now to ventilate our position on any issue and that is United Action for Change. It is even a matter of time we exit from APC and concentrate on this platform which we believe will add value to the system. I prefer an independent manner of dealing with issues. I don’t believe in imposition, dictatorship and godfatherism.”

– Culled from The SUN