… Says Party is on a mission of self destruction
By Daniel Atori
A Chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa has described the just concluded Senatorial and House of Representatives primaries of the ruling exercise as a facade and a mockery of democracy.
Vatsa in a statement in Minna made available to newsmen said the party has failed to learn a lesson from previous administrations in the country, saying that the party is on a mission to self destruction.
While expressing dismay over the outcome of the entire exercise, Vatsa who was the pioneer Publicity Secretary of the party pointed out that the exercise left behind allegations, disappointment, and widespread questions over credibility.
According to him, what transpired during the just concluded national assembly primaries could be likened to what Nigeria late popular afro beat singer, Fela would describe as “demonstration of craze”.
The APC Chieftain of the party alleged that “the charade was further deepened by rumours that some aspirants allegedly committed as much as ₦150 million in pursuit of the ticket through “political manipulation of the century” only for the process to end in disappointment, with complaints in some quarters that the exercise itself left participants feeling scammed”.
Vatsa maintained that the irony was unavoidable, stressing that “Many of the aspirants now lamenting the outcome were among those who maintained silence while people like us raised serious concerns over exclusion, manipulation, and political neglect.
Accordingly , Vatsa said “it is disheartening to see a party whose slogan was “transparency and war against corruption” in 2015 is now neck deep in the worst form of manipulation and irregularities.
“All what we campaigned against in 2015 that earned us the confidence of Nigeria electorates, we are now doing worse than that, and this is quite unfortunate.
“As a pioneer member of this party I never envisaged this type of high level of manipulation that characterized the primaries so far. It is unacceptable”.
While warning the party of the danger ahead following the disenchantment from the people, the one time Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism stated that the party must embark on true fence mending and reconciliation to avoid anti party during the main elections.
“What we have right now is far from the people’s choice that is why we must go back to the grassroots to engage the people before the general elections”, he warned.
“When silence becomes politically convenient for some people, people like us must speak out, and when others preserve ambition, we will air out and articulate grievances.
“The real losers in the primaries may not be those who failed to emerge, but those who traded collective interest for personal gains only to discover that political submission rarely guarantees inheritance,” he said.
He pointed out that like the late former President Umaru Yar’adua who admitted that the system that brought him to power was faulty, “we must admit that the current system is fraudulent and must be corrected to earn us public trust”.
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