- Safiu Kehinde
The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, has labelled the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an utterly dysfunctional party with nothing to offer its members.
Morka stated this during in an interview on Arise TV’s Morning Show programme on Monday.
Defending the mass defection of governors to the APC, the ruling party’s spokesperson maintained that the decision of the governors was not influenced by the APC or President Bola Tinubu.
He held that they willfully joined the party.
Citing the case of Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, Morka labelled him governor of one of the richest states in Nigeria which had been for years controlled by the PDP.
He raised question over the reason behind the governor’s defection which he claimed to be borne out of the dysfunctional state of the PDP.
“Our constitution gives every individual and citizens the right to participate and the right to associate with any political organisation they have chosen.
“The governors who have come to the APC, they came because they choose, underscore that word, they choose to come to the APC.
“No one has managed to offer any credible explanation or justification for the suggestions that the APC or Mr. President is doing anything extraordinary or untoward to persuade or untwist these governors to join him.
“How do you untwist a governor like the governor od Delta state that is one of the richest states subnational in the country? What do you do? What do you offer him as incentive to join?
“Don’t forget that the former party that my governor, Oborevwori, belonged to had been very successful at elections.
“Since 1999, they have governed Delta state. You must ask yourself and Nigerians must ask the question, what then was the reason for a governor who was a member of a party that was consistently successful to decide to leave the party?
“All of these is like the ostrich that buries its head in the sand and thinks it is not exposed. Its entire body is exposed. The PDP has become utterly dysfunctional.” Morka said.
The APC spokesperson further noted that the PDP cannot offer its members any credible platform to pursue their political aspirations because of its internal dysfunctions.
He also extended this to the Labour Party and the African Democratic Congress (ADC0.
“The PDP is no longer able to call itself a political party properly so-called because it is incapable, with its internal dysfunctions, to offer its members any credbile, sensible, smart, and actionable platform to pursue their political aspirations.
“When people move and drift to the APC, it is an endorsement and a statement that the APC is able to offer them what the PDP is not able to offer them, what the Labour Party is not able to offer them, what the ADC is not able to offer them. And that is not our fault.” He said.
Meanwhile, Morka allayed concern over claims about the APC tilting Nigeria towards a one-party state.
He held that the mass defection is not new in Nigeria’s democracy as he recalled the PDP-led tenure from 1999 to 2007.
“This is not the first time this is happening in our country. Between 1999 and 2007, we also witness a large concentration of governors in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At that time, the PDP governed this country with 30 governors.
“We are not witnessing anything today that is really extraordinary or that is novel in our democracy.
“When people suggest that the country is turning into a one-party state, that is alternatively mischievous because it doesn’t really take into account the history, exigence, and realities of a democratic society like we have in Nigeria.” He added.