Photo: Mohammed Abacha

FORMER military dictator's son Mohammed Abacha has rejoined the People's Democratic Party (PDP) which he left in 2010 saying that the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks internal democracy.

Known for his flamboyance during his father's four years in power, Abacha has been the subject of numerous corruption probes and is still being investigated internationally for money laundering. He was also said to head several death squads which killed his father's political opponents.

In 2010, Abacha left the PDP and joined the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) headed by General Muhammadu Buhari and ran for Kano State governor. Although he won the party primary, a high court overturned the decision to the relief of CPC officials who saw him as a liability and Abacha could not stand in the general election.

Since then, the CPC has merged with the Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Nigerian People's Party to form the APC and Alhaji Abacha automatically became one of its members. Yesterday, however, the general's oldest surviving son drove to the PDP secretariat in Abuja in a convoy of about seven vehicles and met with party chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

After the meeting, Alhaji Abacha said that he started his political sojourn in the PDP in 2010 and left the same year due to lack of internal democracy at that time. He added that having gone round, it had now dawned on him and his followers that there was no other political party that captured the entire country than the PDP.

Alhaji Abacha added: “The meeting was very useful. We were able to answer all the questions that were asked and we told them that our coming back was based on the ongoing reconciliation in the party and the assurances we got from the national leadership of the party as well as the wide consultations we made.”

On his father's tenure in office, he added: ”That is history. Let us forget the past, history is for yesterday, we are talking about today and here we are planning for tomorrow, so we must forge ahead for a better tomorrow in the interest of the nation’s development.”

He further stressed that he would get in touch with Kano State governor Rabiu Kwakwanso, who is the leader of the party in the state. Olisa Metuh, the PDP's publicity secretary, said the return of Alhaji Abacha was part of the outcome of the efforts of the party's National Reconciliation Committee headed by Governor Seraike Dickson of Bayelsa State.

Source: Nigerian Watch