The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked opposition elements to stop pointing accusing finger to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The APC said the opposition figures should know that court decisions are binding on all parties until set aside by a competent court, adding that the avowed refusal by Senator David Mark and his co-travellers to comply with court decisions demonstrates a troubling disregard for the rule of law and democratic responsibility.
The David Mark-led factional leadership of the ADC had claimed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deliberately weakening opposition parties to force a one-party state ahead of 2027, adding that INEC acted unlawfully by withdrawing recognition of their leadership, misinterpreting the Court of Appeal’ s order that status quoante bellum should be maintained and that by this that INEC is effectivelytaking sides against them.
Responding to the accusations at a press conference Friday in Abuja, APC National Secretary, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, accompanied by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said: “Nigerians must know that the present predicament of David Mark and his ilk has to do with the untidy way they hijacked the leadership of an existing political party without carrying along all stakeholders resulting in court litigation before the Federal Hight Court and the adverse judgment of the Court of Appeal upon which the INEC predicated it decision not to recognise any of the two contending parties for the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) pending the determination of the pending suit by the court.”
According to Basiru, Leadership of the opposition is not declared through press conferences or rhetoric; it is earned through consistent electoral credibility and public trust, both of which the ADC had struggled to demonstrate.
“Therefore, President Bola Tinubu and indeed the All Progressives Congress cannot be bothered about the contraption of electoral unviability being bandied as a “coalition”
Basiru, however, declared that the ADC must also come to terms with a hard truth: blaming other parties will not fix their internal crises.
“No amount of external finger-pointing can erase their consistent failures or resolve their lingering leadership issues. It is wishful thinking to assume that other political parties will step in to rescue them from problems they have repeatedly failed to manage.
“When All Progressives Congress lost all the seats it had won in Zamfara State due to its own unresolved internal crisis, and Peoples Democratic Party became the beneficiary, everyone agreed it was the rule of law taking its course. No outrage, no conspiracy theories, just the consequences of failing to put your house in order.”
On the claim that ADC will go ahead with its congresses and National Convention without the INEC, APC said: “The public should therefore be aware that the defiant actions being pursued by the David Mark-led factional leadership of the ADC amount to illegality, and when those actions are eventually declared null and void by the courts, it would be disingenuous to blame President Bola Tinubu and the ruling party for the consequences of their own disregard for the rule of law. We hope that they will not come to tell Nigerians that it is the APC or President Bola Tinubu that is weakening democracy when they meet the consequences of their planned illegality.”
The ruling party also dismissed the call by David Mark-led ADC for the sack of INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan.
“Their call for the sack of the INEC Chairman and other INEC Commissioners further exposes a lack of seriousness and understanding of leadership processes of established institutions. As experienced politicians and former public office holders, they ought to know the constitutional process governing appointments and tenure within INEC, and that decisions are taken by the commission, not the Chairman alone. It is preposterous that these undemocratic elements have the audacity to call for the removal of not only the INEC Chairman but the entire National Commissioners. “
