APC: Nigeria becoming a one-party state
We’re not dead — PDP
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Nigeria, which deserves a strong, vibrant opposition to play its conventional role in the polity to deepen democracy, is “sadly” becoming a one-party state.
The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre IssaOnilu, added that the ruling party which believed in democracy and progressive politics could not pretend any longer.
He said democracy could not be said to be “fully operational” in a situation where the “supposed main” opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had become a “joke, irresponsible and rudderless.”
“Even as the governing party, we recognize the importance of rigorous and intelligent interrogation of our policies and programmes by the opposition.
“There are a lot to gain by our democracy and our country in an atmosphere of robust engagement by responsible and patriotic opposition. The political system we practice has important roles for the political parties outside of power. The system envisaged that such parties would provide alternative viewpoints and put the governing party on its toes,” he said in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.
He said, “PDP and their minions” had in the name of opposition continued to distract the government and Nigerians with their “postelection delusions, salacious fictions, conjured rifts in government circle”, added that the lowest of it all was “the pathetic, senseless, and tragic “Jubril of Sudan malicious tale” among other fake news.
Issa-Onilu said the so-called Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which could have filled the vacuum and engaged the APC administration in useful debates over governance, had become “a comedy theatre group and frontline PDP minion”.
Reacting, the PDP said it was very much alive and would not allow Nigeria to become a one party state.
But addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said the PDP would continue to play its opposition role to ensure Nigeria did not become one party state.
Ologbondiyan said that the PDP was seeking for good governance for the nation, and expressed optimism that the party would reclaim power at the Supreme Court.
“It is strange and totally unacceptable, that the APC or the Buhari Presidency within its wishes and thinking claimed that Nigeria will become a one party state. This country is a resilient nation and no individual no matter how highly placed, in the past had succeeded in reducing us to a nation of cowards.
“The PDP does not accommodate certificate forgers; our party is relating directly with Nigerian people and we are working assiduously to make sure that the democratic tenets of our nation is not only enshrined, but seen to be practiced,” the party said.