The All Progressives Congress in Ondo State on Wednesday said that the dramatic exit of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party signalled the end of the party’s influence in the Nigerian political landscape.
Obasanjo on Monday announced his exit from the PDP and had his membership card torn.
In a statement in Akure on Wednesday, the Ondo APC publicity secretary, Omo’ba Adesanya, said Obasanjo’s action was symbolic of the freedom from the PDP that Nigerians had been craving for.
The APC statement read in part, “To those who are poised to effect positive change in the Nigerian polity, it marks an end to impunity, unemployment, infringement on human rights, insecurity, corruption and economic backwardness and sabotage.
“To those who are opposed to this positive change, they see it as a mere display of frustration from this erstwhile leader. Whether it is a positive action or otherwise, time will definitely tell.”
The party noted that by Obasanjo’s action, the PDP had been torn into shreds thus marking its end in the country.
It recalled that it was the ex-President who helped in making President Goodluck Jonathan the Vice President under the late President Yar’Adua, from where Jonathan later emerged as President.
The Ondo APC said Jonathan’s treatment of Obasanjo was akin to the President biting the finger that fed him and that his refusal to heed “pertinent counsels” had led the country into serious economic and security problems.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Advance Party has said that the credibility of the 2015 general elections is doubtful.
The deputy national chairman of the party in the South West, Mr. Tosin Odeyemi, said this at a press briefing in Osogbo, Osun State, on Wednesday.
The briefing was organised to debunk the speculations that NAP had adopted some candidates for the coming polls.
Odeyemi, whose prepared text at the briefing was countersigned by the deputy national chairman of the party in North-West, Alhaji Nura Jobe, said that the party had set up a committee to assess candidates of various political parties to know who NAP would support.
Odeyemi said that his party did not think that the 2015 elections would be free and fair.
He said, “In NAP, we don’t see (Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission) Prof. Attahiru Jega as a good man who would ensure the credibility of the poll. Although he performed better than Prof. Maurice Iwu, I don’t see the coming elections being credible.
“But we are appealing to Jega to make the elections credible. He should do everything to make the elections credible.”
Odeyemi said that NAP would object to any further postponement of the elections, saying the constitution must be respected in order not to plunge the nation into anarchy.
He called on Nigerians and politicians to refrain from inflammatory statements which he said could cause disunity in the country.
