The Action Democratic Party (ADP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday disagreed the successes so recorded since the return to democracy in 1999.
While the ADP said that the three years of APC government in the country has been a tragedy, the APC insisted that despite its imperfection, the nation’s democracy has soldiered on, successfully putting military rule behind.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the APC said the nation has built on the gains of the years of fractured military incursion, while the nation’s democracy and polity had become stronger.
The statement reads: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) congratulates all Nigerians on the momentous occasion of the 2018 Democracy Day Celebrations.
“Indeed, our journey as a nation since 1999 when we returned to democratic rule has not been an easy one but our country has soldiered on. We have built on the gains of those early years fractured by military incursion and now 19 years after, our democracy and polity are stronger.
We have conducted successive elections and have continually improved on the transparency and credibility of our electoral systems.
“Remarkably, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has continued in the country’s proud tradition of being a bastion of democracy in the sub-region and across the world, as seen in the current administration’s lead intervention in ensuring representative governance and peaceful transition of power in the Gambia.
“On this momentous occasion, we should congratulate ourselves on the strides we have made in our political journey as a country since independence. For one, military rule is now distant memory in Nigeria. We must now work collectively to improve our democracy because regardless of its imperfections, democracy remains the best form of government that can best serve the interest of our people.
“As a Party in government, our commitment to address our current challenges, which find expression in the economy and security, remain unshaken. We urge all Nigerians to continue to pray and support the current administration’s effort to build a peaceful and greater nation.”
On his part, the National Chairman of the ADP, Engr. Sani Yabagi told The Nation that it is unfortunate that three years after coming into power; the Nigerian government is still making appointment into strategic and key positions of governance.
He said “I think what has happened to Nigeria is a tragedy. Three years of APC is a tragedy it is tragedy in the sense that those things government should do to hit the ground running were not done.
“Three years after, they are still making appointments. Appointments not to culture the offices – key political, economic positions. Statutory bodies that are supposed to really guide, manage, advice on how the economy should be run. Still, some of them are not yet on board.
“For example, we have an institution as important as CBN which just appointed the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee). There are still some organs of that body that are still not appointed. People are still there not appointed. You can see it is a tragedy.
“This kind of thing shouldn’t happen in a country like Nigeria. There is no way it should happen to us. Is it that we don’t have people? We have people, we have skills, we have intelligent, very young population with superfluous opportunities you can ever dream of in any other continent, particularly in Nigeria.
“Europe has an aging population and their resources are dwindling. Ours is still yet to be tapped. That is why this economy can grow at a faster rate than American economy, even European economy. We have the capacity, we have the population, it is a young population.
Resources are there, the market is there, the share size of resources is enough for us to be big, not to talk of the fact that we can take advantage of our comparative advantage today in oil and gas. So, why can’t we do all those things? That is why I said, it is a tragedy of gangantua proportion.”
On his part, National Chairman of Labour Party, Abdulsalam Abdulkadir said what the country is witnessing today is merely a civilian rule with military mentality without respect for the rule of law.
Abdulsalam said “There is nothing to celebrate on this democracy day, what we are witnessing is mere civilian rule but with military mentality. What we have now there is no respect to law and order.
“You can see the report of the international human rights organization on the rate of abuses in the country.
“In terms of development, Nigeria is still backwards, we are still a consumer nation with not much local products to export. There is poverty everywhere and people are suffering terribly in this country. In terms of the wellbeing of the people, most of the governments are owing workers salary and pension. As a result many pensioners are dying out of hardship and frustration.
“The way forward is for Nigerians to prepare to install a new government that will remedy the shortcomings of the APC-led administration in 2019”.
