Jonathan lectures APC on opposition politics

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday handed out tips to leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on how to be effective as an opposition party .

President Jonathan who was speaking at the public presentation of the authorised biography of former governor of old Kaduna State, Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, said it would be wrong for the APC to assume that a party can earn automatic respect by merely assuming the toga of an opposition.

He said for an opposition party to be effective, it must be committed to social advocacy, adding that as it stands now APC lacks a defined and clear ideology to provide an alternative platform to Nigerians

Jonathan who was represented by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said past progressives in the country did not believe in the politics of regionalism but of principles and values that can advance the development of the nation.

He said this is in contrast to today’s progressives who are a mixture of people who at one time or the other left the government for some reasons only to start criticizing the same government.

“The 2015 election will be a choice between the PDP and a mix of several people from different backgrounds who have gathered into a platform because of the need to contest election,’’ he said.