(3 Minutes Read)
Opposition parties have expressed divergent views on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s call for a united front among political parties to move the country forward. President Tinubu in his New Year address to the nation on January 1 called for unity among political parties to move the country forward.
While some parties described the call as a welcome development as long as it would not plunge Nigeria into a one-party state, others, especially the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rejected it outright, saying the President must reverse what it called the anti-people policies already taken by his administration to get support from Nigerians.
The PDP declared that the display of insensitivity to people’s plights, particularly on insecurity, rude and arrogant disposition to issues of the economy to deepen poverty can only widen the gap between the government and the people.
PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, noted that instead of taking steps to gain people’s acceptance, the Tinubu administration has worsened the existing apathy between it and the people through the actions it has taken in the last seven months.
Referring to allegations of gross irregularities in the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, Ologunagba said such developments did not attract support to the Tinubu-led APC administration because the issues are still very fresh. He stated that the greatest source of support for any government is the one earned from the people through the ballot. It is only when elections are free, fair, and credible that a government gets legitimacy and support. But the 2023 elections have negated these facts in all dimensions.
Ologunagba alleged that instead of addressing the issue, the administration has taken a further step to rig future elections in the country by appointing card-carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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For another leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olusegun Sowunmi, although the president’s call might be reasonable, the opposition parties must be cautious so that the country would not be completely in a one-party state scenario. He also stressed the need for opposition parties to stand in the gap for the people, noting that the present administration already has the majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
