By Emeka Alex-Duru
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday said the confusion in the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) was a clear reflection of the chaos and disorderliness that is the hallmark of its government.
The party said the executive flip-flops by President Muhammadu Buhari and his interference in the internal running of the party, has further exposed the raging impunity, primitive impositions and other undemocratic tendencies in the APC.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday shocked members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of his party when he called for the cancellation of tenure extension for party officials.
The APC had at its NEC meeting on February 28 extended the tenure of members of National Working Committee (NWC) led by John Odigie-Oyegun by one year.
The decision did not go down well with a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, who had been in conflict with the national chairman of the party.
Speaking shortly before the commencement of NEC meeting Tuesday, Buhari told a packed hall at the APC national secretariat to consider cancelling the tenure extension decision because “it is against the party constitution and the Nigerian constitution.”
He therefore, presented the matter “for discussion” at the meeting.
Buhari said he is having a change of heart because he doesn’t want the party’s activities to be faulted by any court of law.
But PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Tuesday, said it was clear that the APC went into a chaotic mode following the renewed interest of Nigerians in the rebranded PDP.
“The confusion in the APC also directly explains why our country has been in shambles in the last three years. There is no way a party which cannot conduct its affairs in a democratic norm will be able to function in government.
“We are therefore not surprised that President Buhari went back to his party’s NEC and ordered members to reverse earlier decisions, which they had claimed conformed with the provisions of their constitution.
“It is amazing that a party, which boasts of belonging to the progressive bent, does not even understand its own rules or the applications thereof. In one breath, the party sought the elongation of tenure for its officials and then in another breath it reversed itself. Nigerians are no longer at loss as to the reasons for failure of governance, policy somersaults and gross incompetence that have brought our nation to its knees in the last three years.
“Our takeaway in all these is that the APC is a complete disaster and we urge all democrats still trapped in this sinking ship to immediately exit and join other good-spirited Nigerians in the rebranded and repositioned PDP to make life better for our people.”
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring the elongation of the tenure of John Odigie-Oyegun and members of his National Working Committee, NWC, illegal.
In a statement, Tinubu said that the straight manner in which the president made the pronouncement affirmed the APC “remains faithful to the principles of internal democracy and the rule of law.”
According to the party leader, the president’s action had saved the party from serious legal turmoil. “If the elongations were deemed illegal then all subsequent party actions, including the nomination of all of our candidates for elective offices, might also be of questionable legality. Such a predicament would constitute an unnecessary and mortal blow to the party and its role in promoting progressive governance to Nigeria.”
Besides, he said Buhari also affirmed that the APC is a party based on the rule of law coupled with a firm adherence to internal democracy. “While it would have been easy to allow the ill-conceived motion of February 27, to stand, President Buhari showed principle and courage by steering the party back to its original and correct path,” he said.
Tinubu declared: “The President has spoken. Today is a good day for those who cherish democracy and legality. His action will also serve to strengthen the party by allowing party members, including present incumbents, to seek to contribute to the party by vying for executive offices as they see fit.
“His action will go far in advancing the process of internal reconciliation that is now underway. It is a time for the party to move forward and begin to plan and organize the needed congresses according to the existing timetables. After all, a party bearing the name All Progressives Congress should be the last party to resist holding congresses in which all its people have a fair say and fair chance to aspire to any position in the party for which they are qualified to hold.
“Again, this is a good day for the APC and democratic political practice in Nigeria. We shun the politics of old to move toward a new and better way of governing ourselves and this nation.”