The national chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yabagi Sani has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is stifling opposition political parties in the country through state capture.
Sani stated that the ruling party uses institutions of government like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate opposition parties.
Reacting to the defection of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the former chairman of Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), who spoke on Arise TV on Sunday morning said, “It’s not surprising because when you have a situation where people have captured the state, what you call state capture. State capture means all the institutions that composed what you call democratic structures.
“Once you’re able to capture all of them, there is no longer a place or space for any other party or any other person outside your own compliance. In this case, the political party that you represent and I’m talking about APC.
“If you look at the way our constitution, which is the grand norm, is structured and the electoral law itself, you’ll discover that for an opposition party, it’ll be very difficult for anybody who wants to really manage a political party or contest elections against somebody who, like I said, has captured the state.
“Why do I say state capture? When you look at institutions that will declare you, even if you have won, assuming the people have given you their votes, their votes are not enough. You have agencies of the government that will now say, yes, you’re the one that has been elected.
“So, in an event where you have all these agencies, not a single one, that is outside the control of your opponent, how can you win an election?
On whether he wouldn’t be happy to receive defectors into his party, he said, “But we won’t use EFCC to intimidate anybody. We won’t quietly call them and say, “you know, you have this issue, which we can use against you, but why don’t we collaborate and see how we can move this country forward.
“Like in the case of Delta, we’re aware Okowa was facing EFCC, and perhaps we don’t know what the governor also was going to do, and others, who they say are on their way to APC. Our parties won’t use that.”
Speaking further he said, “It’s a shameful act done in the open, with no regard to what anybody may think. Yes, that’s what I’m saying, but we must subscribe to higher ideals.
“It is unfortunate that this is happening under the watch of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who in the past, we thought was a democrat, a thoroughbred democrat that we believed would come and then change the scenario that we had before.
“We could forgive President Mohamed Buhari because of his background. But Bola Tinubu grew through the ranks to become who he is today. So, one would have thought that he would do everything to ensure that this system is entrenched, the roots of democracy are entrenched in the largest economy or the biggest country in Africa.
“But look at what is happening. It’s the complete opposite, as if it’s not Bola Tinubu that is on the saddle. So, this is why I’m saying what is happening in this country is a shameful thing.
“How will Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was a senator before, agree to violate our constitution just to achieve what? Grab power?”
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