A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s refusal to step aside has “conclusively vindicated” those who view him as one of the anti-democratic forces promoting a one-party state.
Okechukwu accused Atiku of continuing to push “serial propaganda” by claiming that President Bola Tinubu is fostering a one-party system, despite allegedly covertly opposing the defection of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
He said that Atiku displayed the same anti-democratic tendency during the PDP’s presidential primary election in 2023, which inadvertently destabilised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) irretrievably.
Okechukwu argued that Nigerians can now clearly agree with us that the loud, repeated allegations of APC constructing so-called one “one-party state” are nothing but a smokescreen to cover the opposition’s deep-seated anti-democratic tendency, disunity, and lack of strategic direction.
“Let it be stated without ambiguity, we are vindicated,” Okechukwu said.
“Atiku’s declaration has laid bare the real problem of a foremost opposition held hostage by personal ambition, where no one is willing to neither yield ground for the collective good nor obey the zoning convention, a unity ornament which guarantees that presidential power rotates from north to south and vice versa, hence inclusion, equity and fairness.”
He stressed that Atiku’s statement came at a time when Nigerians expect a credible and united opposition, where ADC’s key opposition figures are not locked in a battle of egos, thereby making meaningful coalition impossible.
“As an octogenarian and elder statesman, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar should help build the consensus of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso presidential ticket to make 2027 presidential election robust, credible, challenging and shining example to the globally community, instead of placing our democracy in unnecessary north-south debacle.
“For the avoidance of doubt, he maintained that the strength of the APC lies not merely in incumbency, but in the inability of opposition parties to put their acts together and prioritise national interest over individual ambition.”
Okechukwu concluded that “the real danger to Nigeria’s democracy is not dominance by one party, but the reckless dysfunction of those who should provide balance.