A CHIEFTAIN of All Progressives Congress (APC) has said political parties must recognise they owe a duty to those who voted them into power by ensuring good governance to the people.
He said parties must show responsibility and manage democracy rightly, noting that it is not enough to form a political party.
The APC chieftain spoke to The Nation yesterday, pleading anonymity.
He said party members should connect grassroots to the government, instead of asking the president and governors for handouts and contracts after elections.
He noted that good governance was the reason for establishing APC.
The chieftain recalled how Tom Ikimi, who is now in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), started APC with Audu Ogbeh, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Ibrahim Shekarau, Rochas Okorocha,Ogbonnaya Onu, Segun Osoba and Hadi Sirika, among others.
He noted that Tinubu, Akande and Okorocha played a major role in the development of APC.
“History has to be correctly written because these are men who are interested in the development of the country.
“These founding fathers held meetings in the house of Chief Ikimi, who was in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), every Wednesday, for four months, trying to put parties, such as ACN, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) together, just to bring good governance to the people.
“Ogbeh, who was also in ACN, was chairman of the manifesto committee of APC, and meetings held in his house for three months just to produce our party manifesto while Chief Osoba was in charge of the constitution drafting committee.
“It took one full day of hours of debate to arrive at the name, APC. That’s how we came about’’, he said.
He continued: “Chief Ikimi played a major role in forming our party. It was a very rare incident in political history, parties don’t merge, they form alliances and fall apart when they quarrel.
“So, when we achieved this, we were very triumphant. People thought there would be war and conflicts, but we managed to carry on, the merger was a major achievement”.
He said parties must do certain things, which was also included in the APC manifesto, to let the president and governors know when things are going right or wrong.
“If the party doesn’t have the mechanism to control or query an elected governor, he may get out of hand and this is exactly what is happening in parties in the states; Houses of Assembly are no longer useful, the local government system is not working.
“The increased suffering people are witnessing is actually as a result of poor governance because there are no queries, party members are not supposed to harass the president or governors for money and contracts, why are local governments not growing the economy in their areas? The party must show that it is responsible for the development of our country.
“If you visit any local government today, ask any young man or woman, what comes to mind is the Federal Government not helping them but this is not true, the states and local governments must work towards salvaging the situation.”
‘’The high level of insecurity, high cost of food and other challenges are being witnessed due to how party members fail to show responsibility to the people who brought them to office”, he said.