Stop Making Anti-democratic Utterances, LP Tells APC

National Secretary of Labour Party, Kayode Ajulo

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Labour Party has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be more focused on a programme of action instead of making dictatorial and anti-democratic pronouncements, while pretending to be democratic.

The party which responded to the move by APC to prevent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from defecting to the APC, said doing so would be undemocratic and autocratic.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the National Secretary  of the party, Kayode Ajulo, said the statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC showed that the party is bereft of knowledge of rules and norms guiding party membership.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no registered party has the power to shut its doors against Nigerians, especially a registered party. And in any case, it is rather preposterous that an APC that was cobbled out of a motley array of parties, including defectors from PDP is now the one pretending as if it is different from PDP.

“We stand to be corrected that many in the APC who now pride themselves as progressives were actually former PDP kingpins. Senator Bukola Saraki, Mallam El-Rufai, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Barnabas Gemade, Jeremiah Useni and a host of others were staunch PDP leaders.

“For us in the Labour Party, the APC is nothing more than the New PDP. It is indeed interesting that a party like APC with antecedent of political prostitution, transfiguration and serial metamorphosis is now the one coming out to play ‘Mr. Clean.’

“The history of the core APC has been that of migration from platform to platform and donning of ever changing Toga. A break away from the original PDP at its birth in 1998, the party first emerged in its infancy as Alliance for Democracy (AD), then in 2006 it became Action Congress (AC), in 2010 Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before again finally becoming APC.

Nigerian political history has not shown a more unstable platform than this gargoyle of a party.

“Instead of engaging in distractions and frivolities, our advice to the APC is that they should pay more attention to how to fulfill their campaign promises.

The APC should advise its leadership and the president-elect to be more focused on programme of action instead of making dictatorial and anti-democratic pronouncements.

“It is obvious from the attack on the PDP that the APC is merely trying to cover up its quest to make Nigeria a one-party state. A party that wooed to its ranks on the eve of election two sitting governors and deputy governor cannot now come out as champion of purity of platform. Like everything about this party, that is another marketing strategy.

“They are merely trying to condition and psychologically bully Nigerians into believing that everybody wants to be party of APC, which is far from the truth. In the real sense, this party of pretenders and chameleons is ambling towards one party state and civilian dictatorship.

“We know the signs and we have seen the signs. Nigerian masses must wake up to this knowledge.”

On our part in the Labour Party, we are convinced that what Nigeria needs most at this time in our history is not the political shenanigans that hold sway, but rather robust ruling party and robust opposition, and we are not going to be found wanting.”