The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the All Progressives Congress
(APC) and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are not ready
for the election and governance.
Atiku, in a statement by his spokesperson, Senator Dino
Melaye, Friday urged Nigerians to critically examine the conduct and character
of the people and parties that seek to lead.
He claimed that it is becoming increasingly apparent that
the APC members are desperate to retain power.
The PDP presidential candidate also claimed that the APC
used media propaganda to confuse Nigerians.
The statement read in part, “I once had a cause to describe
the APC as an NGO and not a political party. Even now that it has managed to
have a contrivance called party executive it remains formless, unstructured,
uncoordinated and unorganised. It’s not surprising since as you may recall the
coronation of the Chairman of the Party was a mere formalisation of the
appointment approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the lifewire,
navigator, and camp commandant of the APC.
“As an indication of the unpreparedness of the APC to lead
Nigeria, the party, in its nearly 10 years of existence, has no Board of
Trustees. The Board of Trustees is usually referred to as the soul or the
conscience of the Party. Without a soul, the party has remained rudderless,
floundering, reactive and retrogressive. Before Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the
flag bearer of the Party against the run of play, he had, in his usual entitled
fashion, been addressed as the leader of the party. However, neither he nor any
other was good enough to lead the BOT, so the structure remained sterilised.
“With the acephalic existence of the party, it could only
function under a Caretaker Committee. Again, no one was worthy to lead the
intervening contraption but a sitting Governor, who ordinarily should be
preoccupied with the affairs of his state. As things stand, all the illegality
committed in Buni’s era may be subjected to judicial interrogation. The
shilly-shally continued until the Presidential Convention of Parties fell due.
“Again, the APC acted disjointedly, asking to be granted an
extension of time by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC).
While PDP had conducted its Party Convention and Presidential Election
convention as scheduled, INEC had to babysit and spoon-feed APC before it could
hold its Party and Presidential primaries conventions. How the Party
dilly-dallied before ending up with the contentious selection of a running mate
for its presidential candidate is another lamentable story waiting to be told
another day.
“Another evidence of maturational lag manifested during the
Presidential Primaries. The National Chairman of the Party, acting for himself
or a proxy expressed preference for a candidate, while majority of APC
Governors had their own choice. Though President Buhari, sometimes humoured to
be the leader of the Party, did not make any pronouncement, it is unlikely that
the Chairman acted alone without the approval of the man behind the mask. Till
today it has been a ding-dong between the National Chairman of APC and the flag
bearer of the Party. Where is the time to think or act on the good of Nigeria
in all these?
“Perhaps a more telling indicator of the gross
unpreparedness of the APC for governance is in the constitution of its Campaign
Council. In its unguided attempt to be at pace with the better organised and
better-structured party like the PDP, the APC amateurs bypassed processes,
ignored consultation, discarded vital inputs and ran to the press with a
hurriedly hemmed list of Council members.
“As the joke goes, it is the matter they are still settling.
The omission or commission arising from the composition has led to accusations
and counter-accusations of usurpation of power, disregard for processes,
violation of power boundaries, engagement of the dead and even the borrowing of
names from other parties to make up numbers or profiles.
“The inauguration of the APC Campaign Council has since been
postponed indefinitely! If the kick off of campaigns was unified by INEC APC
would still have held PDP and other parties down from commencing their
campaign, but Gentlemen, as you can see PDP is already up and running”.
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