Atiku Abubarkar, former vice president, has accused the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of dictatorial tendency. He cited the party’s agenda of systematic frustration of strong opposition party politics since its inception in 1999.
The former Vice President, who spoke at a National Summit of the opposition All Progressive Congress in Abuja, recalled that he, and other prominent progressive leaders tried to form a formidable opposition in 2005, but the attempt was thwarted by the PDP.
He said the two-party system worked very well in the Second Republic because it provided Nigerians the opportunity to deal with any government that failed in its social contract with the electorate.
Abubakar was a foundation member of the PDP. He fell out with the PDP ahead of the 2005 general elections leading to the formation of the Action Congress, and was its presidential candidate, but failed to fly.
Like a prodigal son, he returned to the PDP in 2010 and ahead of the 2015 Presidential election, he has once again parted ways with the PDP.
Atiku said he had always favoured a two-party system and further recalled, “Also, in 2009 and 2011we tried to form another formidable opposition party, but was again frustrated. If Ghana and Senegal can have strong opposition parties, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot have it. We must get it right and avoid a civilian dictatorship. If PDP wins in 2015, then the civilian dictatorship has come to stay.”
Bbatunde Raji Fashola, Lagos State governor, described the National Summit as historic, saying, “Our nation longs for change and the APC is committed to leading a Movement for Change. Look no further than how the party was formed; we in this room are the products of the first ever merger of political parties in Nigerian history”.
He said: “Today, not only will we get a look at our ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’ in the afternoon, but this morning, we will start something maybe no other political party has ever done for a long time – we’ll present a Code of Ethics – a set of guiding principles that will be our common bond together and to the nation; a set of values that will direct our activities and actions.”
He further explained: “We are tied together by what we believe:We believe our nation must be economically and socially vibrant; we believe our nation must be peaceful, just and secure; we believe that corruption must no longer be tolerated in any corner of our nation, not in political life and not in our business or civic affairs; we believe in investing in our people, because they are the most important assets of our nation; we believe every person deserves work that enables them to provide for their families, to contribute to the community and to have a favourable, quality of life.”
But in a swift reaction, the ruling People’s Democratic Party, also described the APC’s manifesto as a product of a Janjaweed ideology, a roadmap to anarchy which is typical of all anti-democratic coalitions, saying that the manifesto lacks character, depth and completely addressed no issue.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh said the manifesto, which ranked security of lives and property low and gave no clue as to its preparedness to tackle terrorism, was a tacit acknowledgment that the APC may be benefiting from the mayhem and knows more than meet the eyes about the spate of terror attacks in the country.
“When last year in its first official outing, the leaders of the APC said terrorism in Nigeria would disappear within 100days of APC leadership, Nigerians did ask if they knew the characters in crime and their sponsors. APC gave silence as an answer while Nigerians kept wondering. Today, the party has released its manifesto with loud silence on the matter so that Nigerians would not raise further questions on the face behind the terrorism mask.”
Taking the APC to task on job creation and war on corruption which the party projected as cardinal on its manifesto, the PDP said the APC has no credible recipe for job creation nor has it shown the strength of character to fight corruption more than the PDP does at the moment.
“The PDP created anti-corruption agencies- the ICPC, the EFCC and established the Freedom of Information Act to further give teeth to the war on graft. The PDP-led Federal Government has also shown no preferences in its battle on corruption as senior party leaders as well relations have at one time or another been made to face the law on charges of corruption.
“On the contrary, the leaders of the APC are the grand patrons of corruption as could be seen from the South West APC states where a kilometer of road is awarded at N1billion in a topography that compares nowhere to the marshy South-South and where the self-styled leader imperially superintendents the finances of six states with mind boggling cases of corruption.
“The spirited defence for the suspended Central Bank governor mounted by the APC was because the leaders of the party benefited immensely from the regime of sleaze that took place under Sanusi. A fraudulent 84 billion contract was awarded to a leader of the party while another N5billion was paid to another stalwart of the party as consultancy fee.”
According to the PDP, nothing showcases the anti-democratic ambience of the APC than its inability to conduct a properly constituted congresses and convention to elect its substantive officers almost a year after formation, stating that “the strange bed fellows have merged, but the structures are refusing to integrate, hence, crisis and disagreements in its ranks.”
“This disagreements played out on the high table today (Thursday) at the party’s summit as one of its leaders, Modu Sherif pointedly accused the leadership and the organisers of excluding and marginalising a section of its founders. With persistent in-fighting at this cradle, how does APC hope to unify Nigerians and guarantee the survival of democracy?” PDP asked.
The ruling party further described as tissue of lies, the claim by the APC that it was the first party to lunch a code of conduct.
“In 2006, the PDP launched a comprehensive code of conduct under an ominibus entitled ‘Survival Kit.’ This kit contained documents such as Desirable Qualities of a Member and Code of Conduct for PDP aspirants and candidates.”
“We also have the Peoples Democratic Institute, an intellectual arm of the party whose major work is the systemic research, inculcation and internalisation of democratic ethos.”
The PDP further said the recent opinion poll which the APC said it derived its manifesto is a familiar product from political party that subsists in lies and deception.
“They sponsored same in Anambra and their gubernatorial candidate, Chris Ngige came a distant third. This is after they sponsored same in Ondo where its candidate in the gubernatorial election, Rotimi Akeredolu also came third.”
The statement further warned that the unseen thrust of the APC manifesto is to balkanise Nigeria and cause disaffection among the people, citing the deportation of Nigerians from Lagos by an APC governor.
Mohammadu Buhari, former military head of state, said even with the plethora of crisis in Nigeria, “this nation can still be better managed. We need to put good leadership because the youth are getting more agitated.”
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, said: “Nigeria under the APC government should be manufacturing prosperity and creating jobs. May Nigeria again never see the magnitude of killings going on in some parts of the country. I believe a two-party system is good for my country.”
Tom Ikimi, former national chairman of the National Republican Convention in the Third Republic, said he was a committed apostle of a two-party system, “being a former National Chairman of the NRC, I know that to have a successful party in Nigeria, you must have strong presence in all zones of the country, but former leadership of the PDP believes in one party dictatorship.”
However, former Borno State governor, Modu Sherif, urged the leadership of APC to guard against a repeat of 2007 merger disaster.
Fifteen governors of the party were present at the symposium, while the Borno State governor Ibrahim Kashim was represented by his deputy.
Rochas Okorocha, chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum and Imo State governor, said that PDP government “has given Nigeria, a bad cheque that cannot be cashed in any bank of prosperity”, even as he called on the leaders of the party to de-emphasise ethnicity and religion when in power.
Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers State governor, said APC was not a religious party as being bandied by the PDP.
He drew the attention of the participants to the details of the 2014 budget century release where Rivers State was not properly captured. He said, “I cannot belong to a party that keeps malice with its people just because one man, the governor, disagrees with the President. I can no longer be in a party where my children will be schooling abroad while the children of the poor are forced in poorly-funded schools in Nigeria.”
