The Assistant State Publicity Secretary of APC, Funsho Ologunde, on Saturday responded to allegations that the party is no different from the Peoples Democratic Party it criticises based on its open arm policy to former members of the ruling party.
They (APC) are not birds of the same feathers because PDP represents power (and indirectly, impunity) while APC preaches change, he said.
Speaking on Sunrise, he said “in the game of politics, there are no permanent friends.” The fact that some people have been in the PDP, working against the interest of the country, does not mean they cannot be converted.
He claimed that the process of conversion was not overnight and that the gospel of the APC to the decampees was that their continued stay in the PDP was a hindrance to the progress of the nation.
In reaction to this, PDP Chieftain, Segun Ogundimu, said the position of the PDP is that the “mass defection (will lead to) mass confusion in the APC.” He also denied that those who decamped were being oppressed by the leadership and accused them of being over ambitious.
Asked what the APC intends to do to bring about the change it has promised, Ologunde said the development in APC states attests to the fact that the party can deliver if Nigerians support.
According to him, the widely celebrated development heralded by the Akpabio led Akwa Ibom state government is an orchestrated campaign by the PDP to give the party leverage against APC governors who are widely accepted as performing.
PDP is synonym for non-performance, bad government, he said.
However, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and Managing Director of the Sun Newspapers, Femi Adesina, who was a guest on the programme, opined that the mass defection is healthy for democracy as it has caused a “balance of power, forces.” The realignments in the political front indicate that “anything can happen in 2015,” Adesina added.
He continued by saying that prior to the season of defection, PDP’s return to power was highly ikely but now “nothing is guaranteed.”
Adeshina averred that the changes in the polity have generated excitement in the public domain in anticipation of 2015 general elections.