Atiku: Nigeria’s ruling parties engage in party bullying

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says the ruling parties in Nigeria often engage in party bullying instead of party building.

The chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said this yesterday at the 2nd Annual Conference of InterParty Advisory Council (IPAC), with the theme, “Internal Party Democracy: A Recipe to a Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria” held in Abuja.

The former vice president, who chaired the occasion, said it was a huge challenge to democratize governance in the country due to prolonged years or military rule.

The Waziri Adamawa, told the APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Sen. Shuaibu Lawal, who represented the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to take notice of his speech.

Atiku said, “For a number of years now, we have had political parties, even governing ones, which hardly hold meetings of their important organs, including those meant for the democratic selection of their leadership, or even constitute institutions prescribed in their Constitution.

“In the absence of those meetings and elections, their existing leadership, often under the direction of the Executive at the state or federal level, fill the void. That’s not party building but party bullying. And it’s certainly not a way to democratize parties and aggregate their members’ opinions, interests and aspirations,” he also said.