Olisah Mentuh Speaks….He cautioned “those expecting free and fair primaries for the selection of APC candidates for the 2015 general election to wake up to reality before it becomes too late.”
Mr. Metuh added, “That the APC is a party of self-centered and dictatorial politicians with no regard for democratic principles is well known to all. However, we have noted a disturbing pattern, wherein the APC leaders now resort to personal attacks on people when they dump their party.
“The vitriolic attacks, insults and threats on former Kano Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, his Sokoto state counterpart, Attahiru Bafarawa, former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani Kayode and several others who were labelled ‘traitors and political misfits’ by APC leaders when they left the party easily come to mind.
“Nigerians ponder. Why is it that the APC only realizes that their members are traitors and misfits when they exercise their freedom of association and leave due to its undemocratic, destructive and anti-people agenda?
“One notable example is the recent attack by the APC’s unelected Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu against their former member, Chief Tom Ikimi, who he branded a ‘sellout’ and ‘unreliable’ personality because he left their fold.
“How come Tinubu did not realize that Chief Ikimi was unreliable and a sell-out who cannot be trusted with the leadership of the APC until when he decided to leave? Did Tinubu not know all these when Ikimi was selected to lead the negotiation for the merger agreement that resulted in the formation of the APC?
“Is Chief Ikimi the only person in the APC that worked with General Sani Abacha? What about General Muhammadu Buhari who not only took up a very sensitive position in that regime as the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) but also gave General Abacha a clean bill of health on allegations of corruption?
“The APC has refused to address the issues of lack of internal democracy, religious and ethnic segregations, promoting of violence and other entrenched anti-people tendencies raised by those who left its fold. Instead, it has resorted to cheap blackmail, propaganda and character assassination to divert attention. This shows the APC as a party of frustrated politicians attempting to use their mastery of the act of deception to hoodwink Nigerians.
“However, the recent confession by Tinubu that the APC National Convention was manipulated to stop Chief Ikimi, from emerging as the National Chairman clearly underscores the party’s undemocratic stance; the hollowness of its selection processes and the readiness to stifle democratic quest among its members,” the PDP said.
