By Steve Oko
Former Senate President and the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Adolphus Wabara, has said that the defection of PDP Governors to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had confirmed his earlier warning that the APC had an agenda of pushing Nigeria into a one-party state.
Wabara, who was reacting to the latest defection of Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State and the rumoured planned defection of his Bayelsa State counterpart, Douye Diri, to the APC, accused the national ruling party of orchestrating the gale of defection that had hit various opposition parties.
Reiterating his earlier warning that “one-party state is a prelude to autocracy and retrogression,” the former Senate President accused the APC of stifling democracy in Nigeria.
He regretted that the Nigerian democracy, which had thrived under the PDP, “is being strangulated” under the watch of the ruling APC.
Wabara said that defections were not because “the APC is a better platform but because it has ambushed democracy”.
“I saw this coming. I raised the alarm, but was ignored. This is not the democracy that we jealously nurtured and guarded. This is a corrupted version of democracy.
“The ruling APC believes in intimidation of the opposition into submission. No democracy has ever survived without the opposition. APC is killing Nigeria’s democracy by muzzling the opposition.
“APC’s refusal to carry out electoral reforms that could guarantee free and credible polls is what is making some of the opposition members to defect. This is more of coerced defection,” he said.
The former Senate President said the ruling party had not demonstrated any capacity to navigate Nigeria out of the woods.
“Nigerians know very well that there is nothing attractive in the APC. It was never prepared for governance and that is why it has continued to supervise the erosion of our democratic values.
“Since grabbing power in 2015, the APC has superintended over Nigeria’s retrogression. The country is now on the reverse gear. Poverty and economic hardship will stand out as APC’s greatest legacies for Nigeria,” Wabara said.
The former Senate President argued that the PDP Governors defecting to the APC had all performed better than their APC counterparts, but were only leaving the PDP mainly to safeguard their political future.
He, however, declared that their departure would not lead to the collapse of the PDP but enable the former ruling party to reposition itself ahead of 2027.
Senator Wabara said that although some of the Governors and few prominent members of the party had left the party, the masses are still with the PDP.
“That few individuals decided to leave does not in any way suggest that the masses have left us . PDP is still very popular among Nigerian masses because they know how the PDP incubated and preserved our democracy.
“Nigerians can take this to the bank; PDP will not die. We have come a long way, and we will surmount the current storm,” said Wabara.
He urged PDP members, especially those from the South East, to remain steadfast in their support for the party, expressing confidence that brighter future awaits the party in 2027.
Senator Wabara told the ruling APC not to celebrate yet, predicting that the ruling party is headed for implosion.
“In 2027, impoverished and suffering Nigerians, not Governors, will decide the fate of the APC,” Wabara declared.
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