APC a party of incurable despots, says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) as “incurable despots who have since instituted reign of impunity characterised by dictatorship, imposition, and victimisation within the party”.

The PDP, through its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, on Saturday warned that the “growing anti-democratic behaviour of the APC, if not checked, could undermine the entire democratic structure.”

The party therefore advised “all lovers of democracy still in the APC to immediately quit as they are not likely to enjoy any democratic tenet under despotic leaders who are not disposed to divergent views”.

It added that APC had shown itself to be “nothing but a party of ill-bred, frustrated and intolerant politicians; bad losers for whom resorting to personal attacks, blackmail and mudslinging, in addition to promoting violence had become an ideology”.

“That the APC is a party of self-centered and dictatorial politicians with no regard for democratic principles is well known to all. However, we have noted a disturbing pattern, wherein the APC leaders now resort to personal attacks on people when they dump their party,” read the statement.

“The vitriolic attacks, insults and threats on former Kano governor, Ibrahim Shekara; his Sokoto state counterpart, Attahiru Bafaraw; former aviation minister, Femi Fani Kayode; and several others who were labelled ‘traitors and political misfits’ by APC leaders when they left the party easily come to mind.

“Nigerians ponder. Why is it that the APC only realises that their members are traitors and misfits when they exercise their freedom of association and leave due to its undemocratic, destructive and anti-people agenda?

“One notable example is the recent attack by the APC’s unelected leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu against their former member, Chief Tom Ikimi, whom he branded a ‘sellout’ and ‘unreliable’ personality because he left their fold.

“How come Tinubu did not realise that Chief Ikimi was unreliable and a sell-out who cannot be trusted with the leadership of the APC until when he decided to leave? Did Tinubu not know all these when Ikimi was selected to lead the negotiation for the merger agreement that resulted in the formation of the APC?

“The APC has refused to address the issues of lack of internal democracy, religious and ethnic segregation, promoting of violence and other entrenched anti-people tendencies raised by those who left its fold. Instead, it has resorted to cheap blackmail, propaganda and character assassination to divert attention. This shows the APC as a party of frustrated politicians attempting to use their mastery of the act of deception to hoodwink Nigerians.

“However, the recent confession by Tinubu that the APC National Convention was manipulated to stop Chief Ikimi, from emerging as the National Chairman clearly underscores the party’s undemocratic stance; the hollowness of its selection processes and the readiness to stifle democratic quest among its members.”

The ruling said it is on the record that APC is a party where individuals crown themselves national leaders without recourse to appropriate democratic process, describing the trait as “a clear manifestation of the fact that the APC is merely a private estate; a vehicle through which selfish politicians pursue their personal interests”.

It also berated Tinubu for boasting that “he would produce his party’s presidential candidate in the 2015 general election, an action that exposed his contempt for democratic due process and the worthlessness of any selection process that may be organised by the APC”.

“We urge all lovers of democracy to note Tinubu’s anti-democratic actions. This unelected APC leader, without recourse to due process barred a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bamidele Opeyemi from contesting the June 2014 governorship election in Ekiti state on the platform of the APC. In the same vein, he barred the former senate deputy minority leader, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora from re-contesting for the senate in 2011 only to impose his wife, Oluremi Tinubu on the people,” it said.

“This is in addition to the imposition of his son in-law, Hon. Oyetunde Oladimeji Ojo as a member representing Ijero/Efon/Ekiti West in the house of representatives, his sister-inlaw, Lola Fibisola Akande as a member of the Lagos state House of Assembly and his daughter, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, to replace his late mother, Abibatu Mogaji as President-General of the Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men.

Alleging that those who resist impunity in the APC are victimised, insulted and branded, PDP urged all Nigerians and lovers of democracy still in the APC to be bold and leave before it became too late.

“The PDP would not relent in its effort in putting it right before the APC because our democracy needs a virile opposition, but like Adlai Stevenson campaign statement in 1952 wherein he said ‘I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them'”.