President Bola Tinubu has absolved himself from blame for the disunity rocking several opposition parties in Nigeria. The president advised them to accept their losses and stop blaming him for their parties’ poor management.
In a statement, Tinubu’s spokesman Bayo Onanuga said, “The opposition cannot blame President Tinubu and the governing APC for their poor organisation, indiscipline and gross incompetence in managing their affairs.”
The President noted that politicians changing party affiliations is a common phenomenon, even in advanced democracies.
“Politicians changing party affiliation is not new or peculiar to Nigeria. In more advanced democracies, there are ready examples of notable politicians, statesmen and women who changed parties,” Onanuga added.
Recent examples of notable defections include that of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The former Vice Presidential candidate,, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa also defected to the APC.
The moves effectively truncated two decades of domination of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Opposition’s Claims Baseless
Tinubu’s administration has been accused of poaching from opposition parties and even moving Nigeria towards authoritarianism. The President’s team dismisses the claims as “baseless and exaggerated.”
Onanuga said, “Democracy is not under any threat in Nigeria. Accusations that the administration is moving towards authoritarianism are baseless and exaggerated.”
In the statement, the presidency said that freedom of association and speech are fundamental democratic ideals.
“When politicians and citizens cannot freely join any association or political party of their choice or cannot openly express their views, democracy is imperiled,” the statement read.
Freedom of Choice
The President’s team emphasized that Nigerians are exercising their freedom of choice by joining the APC. “Nigerians migrating to the APC and expressing support for Tinubu are doing so out of their free will, based on the belief that the reforms being executed are in the interest of Nigerians and the unborn generation,” Onanuga said.
He urged Nigerians to “join hands with the administration in protecting democracy by respecting the people’s choices and giving alarmists who draw their narratives from the pool of fiction a wide berth.”
The President’s team commended the President for upholding democracy and making the APC viable and attractive to Nigerians.
“President Tinubu and the National Working Committee of the APC, under the leadership of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, deserve commendation for making the ruling party viable and attractive to all Nigerians willing to participate in the democratic process,” they added.
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