Follow Us on Google
… Ruling party urges INEC to deregister opposition coalition party
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, has stated that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling party are not bothered about the contraption of electoral unviability bandied by the opposition party, the African Democratic Party (APC).
The party’s chief scribe also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately deregister the opposition coalition party, over what the ruling party described as lack of electoral value.
He spoke at a press conference at the party’s national secretariait in Abuja on Friday, with the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, mocking that ADC’s acclaimed political dominance in the country has not translated into any electoral value.
“The David Mark factional ADC leadership appear to be indulging in self-delusion by positioning themselves as the leading opposition, when their recent electoral outings clearly suggest otherwise. You cannot lay claim to national relevance while your performance at the polls remains abysmal and unconvincing. Since the inception of their so-called coalition, they have been roundly rejected at the polls by Nigerians, including during the recently held Local Government Area Council election held in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Leadership of the opposition is not declared through press conferences or rhetoric; it is earned through consistent electoral credibility and public trust, both of which they have struggled to demonstrate.
“Therefore, President Bola Tinubu and indeed the APC cannot be bothered about the contraption of electoral unviability being bandied as a “coalition”!” Basiru noted.
Calling the electoral umpire to deregister the coalition, Basiru said: “We advice INEC to deregister the coalition of confusion party because they have no electoral value. They cannot be demonising INEC by calling for the sack of the chairman and National Commissioners.
“Assuming that the electoral umpire boss and the Commissioners are sacked, who will appoint the next set of people taking over from them. Instead of seeking court redress they are calling for the sack of the electoral umpire management.
“They are not ready to obey the law but preferred to threaten to go ahead with it’s scheduled activities including the conduct of the convention which shows that they have no regards for the court of law
“Since they are not just ready for elections,they cannot collapse the institution. It will be disingenuous for them to blame President Tinubu and the APC if they disobey the court. They have to put their house in order and stop blaming Tinubu or the APC,” the National Secretarysaid.
Other News
Responding to ADC’s call for the sack of the INEC Chairman and other INEC Commissioners,the ruling party’s chief scribe said: “It further exposes a lack of seriousness and understanding of leadership processes of established institutions.”
“As experienced politicians and former public office holders, they ought to know the constitutional process governing appointments and tenure within INEC, and that decisions are taken by the commission, not the Chairman alone. It is preposterous that these undemocratic elements have the audacity to call for the removal of not only the INEC Chairman but the entire National Commissioners!”
On ADC’s insistence to proceed with planned congresses and convention in defiance of Court of Appeal orders and pending litigation at the Federal High Court, Basiru said: “Nigerians should also note that the sacked David Mark’s leadership of the ADC has insisted on proceeding with its scheduled activities including congresses and convention despite an ongoing case at the Federal High Court challenging their leadership and in defiance of the subsisting judgment.
“This again raises serious questions about their respect for legal processes and the rule of Law. It is settled law that court decisions are binding on all parties until set aside by a competent court. The avowed refusal by Senator Mark and his co-travellers to comply with court decisions demonstrates a troubling disregard for the rule of law and democratic responsibility.
“Making those bold assertions of defiance to judicial processes and institutional decisions, despite the clear legal implications that all parties must maintain the status quo to avoid avoid foisting fait acompli in the the ongoing proceedings at the trial court showed clear desperations and absence of democratic and rule of law credentials by the Mark and his factional ADC leadership.
“Indeed, their initial resort to interlocutory appeal appears to have been a clumsy, hasty and a flawed procedural attempt to stall proceedings at the trial court, undertaken in disregard of due legal process.
“The public should therefore be aware that the defiant actions being pursued by the David Mark-led factional leadership of the ADC amount to illegality, and when those actions are eventually declared null and void by the courts, it would be disingenuous to blame President Tinubu and the ruling party for the consequences of their own disregard for the rule of law.
“We hope that they will not come to tell Nigerians that it is the APC or President Tinubu that is weakening democracy when they meet the consequences of their planned illegality!” Basiru said:
The ruling party also lambasted the coalition party for not looking inward and stopping finger pointing, emphasising: “The ADC must also come to terms with a hard truth: blaming other parties will not fix their internal crises. No amount of external finger-pointing can erase their consistent failures or resolve their lingering leadership issues.”
“It is wishful thinking to assume that other political parties will step in to rescue them from problems they have repeatedly failed to manage.
“When All Progressives Congress lost all the seats it had won in Zamfara State due to its own unresolved internal crisis, and Peoples Democratic Party became the beneficiary, everyone agreed it was the rule of law taking its course. No outrage, no conspiracy theories, just the consequences of failing to put your house in order,” he said.
