The presidency said it is not worried by the registration of
Nigeria’s largest opposition party.
The Senior
Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin
Okupe, has said the newly registered All Progressives Congress, APC, may not last for long
because “its foundation is wrong, its combination is faulty and its ideologies
are not clearly defined.’’
He said the registration of
APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, underscored the
openness of the present administration.
Mr. Okupe made this remark
when he spoke with newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.
He stressed that the
registration of the APC by INEC also demonstrated “political liberalism of
President Jonathan.
“This would not have happened
under many Africa Presidents, especially when it is obvious that there were
obvious hurdles and obstacles to that registration’’, Mr. Okupe said.
Such obstacles, he said,
could have been exploited and amplified and used by people of lesser integrity
to frustrate the registration of the party. He held that the PDP-led Federal
Government was not afraid of the APC registration.
“These are people that were
beaten individually and collectively before, we will defeat them randomly.
“But we are glad that at
least, instead of fighting three or four parties, we can concentrate on one and
get it done.
“I can assure you that there
is nobody in the Presidency that is worried. For us, it is a good thing, it is
a great development. We will see how far they can go.’’
On speculations that some
governors were planning to leave the PDP for opposition parties, he said they
cannot afford to leave the party.
“Yes our party may have its
problems, faults and inadequacies, but there is no alternative than to be
inside. There are more than enough reasons for people to leave, but you know
you don’t leave a winning platform politically; it amounts to committing
political suicide.
“These are empty boasts and
things that do not hold water. None of these governors as you can see for
yourself is prepared to move.
“What they are trying to do
is to move around and ensure that they are heard and have some of their demands
met. Nobody is going anywhere because PDP is still the real party to beat’’,
Mr. Okupe said.
Asked if President Jonathan
will re-contest the presidency in 2015, Mr. Okupe said the president “has not
decided and has not told anybody.”
“If the President decides to
run for the presidency in 2015, nobody can beat him.’’
“The calculations are in his
favour, the odds are in his favour, the national supports are in his favour,
the performance index is in his favour,” he added.
He stressed that the only
worry of the presidency for now, was how to ensure it delivered democracy
dividends to the people and not 2015 presidential election.
“This is not the time to
campaign. Those who are doing so are doing so because they have nothing to do,
they are professional political jobbers.
They are not serious minded
people, and they have nothing serious to do’’, Mr. Okupe contended.
He said the PDP leadership
was working round the clock to have the court injunction restraining the party
from holding its forthcoming Special National Convention slated for Aug. 31,
vacated.
“I was told that those who
went to court had said that they were no longer interested in the case, and so
are withdrawing their case.
“So, the court injunction is
not an issue anymore. The convention is on course’’, he added.
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