The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday criticized former PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, and ex-Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai over their remarks during the recently concluded 2-day National Conference on Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria held in Abuja.
In a statement on Tuesday, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, dismissed their positions as baseless and misguided.
He accused Atiku of repeatedly blaming the APC for issues within his own party, describing his claims as “like a broken record.”
At the conference, Atiku alleged that Nigeria’s democracy was being undermined by judicial interference in electoral matters.
He further accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of paying N50 million to certain opposition leaders to destabilize rival parties, a claim APC dismissed as unfounded.
The APC also criticized El-Rufai’s recent remarks against the party, stating that they were unwarranted.
Morka emphasized that the opposition leaders’ comments reflected their inability to engage constructively on issues critical to national progress.
In his reaction the governing party said: “It was in the Atiku era as Vice President, particularly in 2003 and 2007, that the PDP conducted the worst elections in our political history. We cannot possibly forget how Atiku’s PDP heavy-handedly captured most South-West states and vowed to remain in power for 60 years. It was in those same years that Atiku’s former boss and then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, infamously described election as a “do or die affair” in a desperate attempt to annex Lagos.
“If democracy was neither derailed nor endangered in those perilous days, is it now that elections are by far freer, fairer and more credible that Nigeria risks losing democracy?”
APC noted that the judicial branch of government is a constitutional creation like the executive and legislative branches with its constitutionally defined powers to adjudicate disputes among citizens and between citizens and the state.
Morka reminded Atiku that he cannot wish away or seek to abolish enshrined power of the courts to intervene in civil disputes, including electoral disputes, in cases where the authority of the court is validly invoked by a litigant.
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“It is a thing of irony that Atiku, who is Nigeria’s most prolific electoral litigator, would make such a ludicrous claim that judicial involvement in electoral matters is a threat to democracy. His criticism of the courts and the electoral process rings hollow given his long history of using the courts to further his political agenda. It’s time for him to take a step back and let the democratic process unfold without his interference.
“Nigeria’s democracy is far stronger than Atiku’s political ambitions. We deserve better than petty politicking and alarmist rhetoric from an elder statesman. As a veteran politician, one would expect Atiku to understand that while democracy may be about winning election, it is, more importantly, about respecting the will of the electorate and working towards the greater good of all. Atiku should focus on rebuilding his party and offering constructive solutions to Nigeria’s challenges.
“Atiku’s allegation that the APC-led administration was paying out 50 Million Naira to some opposition figures is simply bogus and laughable. Atiku knows that his political desperation is responsible for the PDP’s catastrophic disintegration. Peddling rumors and unsubstantiated allegations should be beneath anyone in the standing of an elder statesman, a former Vice President and a serial contestant for the exalted office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The party also frowned at the suggestion by opposition figures like Atiku, Peter Obi, and recently, aggrieved leaders like Mallam Nasir El-Rufai that APC may be complicit in the internal corrosion of opposition parties.
APC dismissed such suggestions as “pitiful, and only an incompetent alibi for their crass failure to manage their own affairs. They cannot govern their parties but tout their ability to govern Africa’s most populous country.”
The ruling party maintained that discerning Nigerians know better than to be distracted by the false alarm and hollow allegations of desperate politicians whose only goal is shore up their political relevance in the build up to 2027 general elections.
