The All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned the endorsement
of President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate of the PDP for next
year’s presidential election, to the exclusion of all other candidates,
calling the endorsement nothing but a mockery of democracy.
In a statement, Wednesday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party also said the endorsement has come at a great price to
Nigerians, considering the obvious deals that were struck to make
President Jonathan the sole PDP candidate.
It said the parody of democracy that the endorsement represents has
exposed the shameless hypocrisy of the PDP, which is ever so eager to
accuse other parties of lacking in internal democracy.
It said the parody of democracy that the endorsement represents has
exposed the shameless hypocrisy of the PDP, which is ever so eager to
accuse other parties of lacking in internal democracy.
”Obviously, those fellows in the PDP have never heard of the saying that
those who must come to equity must come with clean hands. PDP, where is
your own internal democracy now that you have turned your party into a
fiefdom controlled by one and only one person only?
”While endorsements are part and parcel of democracy, they are never done
to the exclusion of other candidates. This is simply not democratic. When
then candidate Barrack Obama was endorsed by his party’s bigwigs to
contest the US Presidency, the party never excluded Hillary Clinton from
its primaries. That’s how it is done,” APC said.
The party said the price being paid for Jonathan’s endorsement by Nigeria
is simply too heavy, considering that the PDP Governors who spearheaded
the endorsement have now secured perpetual immunity from prosecution by
anti-graft bodies, including the EFCC and the ICPC; the automatic tickets
for all first-term PDP Governors, whether or not they have performed, the
automatic tickets for all PDP Governors running for the Senate, as well as
the free ride back to the Upper Chamber for Senate President David Mark.
”It is now an Open Sesame for the PDP Governors, who have no prying
anti-corruption agencies watching over their shoulders. They can now
simply see the commonwealth as an extension of their deep pockets. The
endorsement is also a vote of approval for the proceeds of corruption that
have been powering the noisy and outrageous Transformation
Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN),” it said.
APC accused President Jonathan of desecrating the country’s democracy
because of his desperation for re-election, adding: ”It is a cruel irony
that a man who has benefited, more than anyone else, from this democracy
has been the one who has been doing everything possible to undermine it.”
The party said President Jonathan has also abandoned domestic issues while
seeking international relevance, in a clear negation of the aphorism that
charity begins at home.
”This President has basically abandoned governance. Unprecedented
corruption is mounting, insecurity stalks the land and Nigerians grope in
darkness as power generation has plummeted. This President has yet to tell
Nigerians the full involvement of his government in the 9.3 million
dollars that was illegally ferried to South Africa on a private jet. This
President has yet to tell Nigerians why he has continued to hobnob with an
alleged sponsor of Boko Haram, who is supposed to be under a probe by his
Administration. Yet, he is eager to attend meetings with serious-minded
leaders who have done well for their own people.