‘Worse than PDP’, ‘monumental disaster for Nigerians’ – five shots new APC faction fired at ruling party

On Wednesday, some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) pulled out of the ruling party to form a faction known as Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC).

Buba Galadima, a former chieftain of the ruling party, who was announced as chairman of the new group, accused the ruling party of shutting its doors on aggrieved members.

They said aggrieved members in the party had shown “good faith and commitment” to its affairs but were “rewarded with indifference and even contempt.”

What are the major reasons the group gave for leaving the ruling party six months to the next general election?

‘IMPUNITY’

The group accused the ruling party of impunity and running a “rudderless, inept and incompetent” government that has “failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people.”

“It has imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, infidelity to the rule of law and constitutionalism. It has failed to ensure the security and welfare of our people and elevated nepotism to unacceptable height,” they said.

‘WORSE THAN PDP’

The faction described the APC government as a “monumental disaster – even worse than the government it replaced (the Peoples Democratic Party).

They said having brought in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC was “rendered powerless by manipulations and complete lack of due process in its operations.”

‘LACK OF POLITICAL WILL’

The R-APC also accused leaders of the APC of lacking political will to improve the condition of the party.

The party is currently enmeshed in various challenges including factional executives at the state and local government level who emerged during its congresses.

“There is no evidence of any  political will to reverse the decline of our party, while leaders who have created these circumstances continue to behave as if Nigerians owe our party votes as a matter of right,” the R-APC said.

‘POOR PERFORMANCE’

The faction also said part of their grievances include the manner the affairs of the ruling party are being conducted.

It said there have injustice and inequity playing out in the activities of the party.

“There has been widespread disenchantment with the manner the party has been run, and the conduct and performance of our governments”, R-APC said, adding that the nPDP has on its part “made strenuous efforts to invite attention to inequities, injustice and poor management in our party without any success.”

“The nPDP had shown good faith and commitment to the party, but it has been rewarded with indifference and even contempt,” they added.

It is obvious that the leadership of the APC has decided to shut out members of the APC, as well as other members who have raised genuine grievances and a desire to improve the responsiveness of the APC to the desire of members for a party founded on democratic principles.

FLAWED CONGRESSES AND CONVENTION

R-APC said the last straw that made it dump the APC was the congresses which it said were intensely disputed as they were “conducted with impunity, total disregard for due process, disregard for the party constitution and naked display of power and practices that have no place in a party we all worked the very hard to put in place.”

Many state chapters of the APC had reportedly experienced parallel congresses, with most producing separate executives.

The faction said there are countless cases in courts across the country challenging the legality of congresses “and even the national convention itself.”

According to the group, “it is very likely that the judicial decisions on these cases will result in massive chaos, confusion and uncertainties. The fate of a party in this state with a few months to the elections is best left to the imagination, but it is not a fate we believe our millions of members should be abandoned to”.

“The so-called national convention of the APC was even worse. The national convention of the party was ridiculed with constitutional infirmities that were so glaring and obvious that no fair minded person can claim that a legitimate and lawful executive emerged from that process,” they said.