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ACN says PDP convention is a mockery of democracy

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) says the kangaroo national convention held by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday has sealed the fate of … Continue reading ACN says PDP convention is a mockery of democracy


The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) says the kangaroo national convention held by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday has sealed the fate of the party as an undisputed one-man-show that is totally contemptuous of internal democracy.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party described President Goodluck Jonathan as an emerging dictator who, in the process of remaking the PDP in his own image, has further pushed the party into the realms of abyss.

It said President Jonathan must by now be regretting the day he took a swipe at other political parties for lacking in internal democracy, when his party cannot even spell the word ‘democracy’, not to talk of possessing it.

“Only a few weeks ago, President Jonathan said the PDP is the only truly democratic party in the country, while all others are mere one-man shows. In making the statement, the aphorism that ‘he who lives in a glass house does not throw stones’ was lost on the President.

“Today, the joke is on the same President, who cajoled and arm-twisted others to step down for his anointed candidate as Chair of the PDP during a mock convention. It is now obvious that President Jonathan either does not understand what internal democracy means, or he is being deliberately cheeky in castigating other political parties for lacking in internal democracy,” it said.

ACN said with the PDP convention debacle, coming shortly after he single-handedly installed the governor of his state – against all democratic tenets – President Jonathan has finally jettisoned all pretence to being a democrat, and has transformed from a closet dictator to an Emperor and a Maximum Ruler of the PDP kingdom.

“Interestingly, the President, in a speech read on his behalf by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the so-called convention, described the PDP as the ‘strongest party in the history of the country’. What he does not realize is that resorting to brute force and arm-twisting to achieve a pre-determined goal do not constitute strength in politics. Rather, they are the early signs of megalomania and the onset of full-blown dictatorship,” the party said.

It said the situation is compounded by the fact that the PDP is the ruling party, adding: “If there is any truth in the saying that no one can give what he does not have, then the PDP as a ruling party is incapable of sustaining or deepening democracy in the country, hence should be voted out of power by the good people of Nigeria at the next general election.”