President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has brushed aside fears of Nigeria becoming a one-party state, in response to claims by opposition parties which accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of nurturing the idea.
In recent weeks, opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), have accused the ruling party of trying to turn Nigeria into a one-party state by poaching their prominent members.
However, Tinubu while addressing a joint sitting of the National Assembly during his Democracy Day address yesterday said the opposition parties need to put their houses in order and curb the spate of defections from their stable .
“To those who ring the alarm that the APC is intent on a one-party state, I offer you a most personal promise. While your alarm may be as a result of your panic, it rings in error,” the president said in his speech.
“At no time in the past, nor any instance in the present, and at no future juncture shall I view the notion of a one-party state as good for Nigeria. I have never attempted to alter any political party registration with INEC. Equally, my friends, we cannot blame anybody seeking to bail out of a sinking ship even without a life jacket.
“Look at my political history. I would be the last person to advocate such a scheme. In 2003, when the then-governing party tried to sweep the nation clean of political opposition through plot and manipulation, I was the last of the progressive governors standing in my region.
“In all their numbers and false grandeur, they boasted of ruling, not governing, Nigeria for the next half century or more. Where are they now?
“Yet, I stood alone. My allies had been induced into defeat. My adversaries held all the cards that mortal man could carry. Even with all of that, they could not control our national destiny because fate is written from above. A greater power did not want Nigeria to become a one-party state back then. Nigeria will not become such a state now.
“The failed effort to create a one-party state placed progressive political forces on a trajectory to form the APC. It put me on the trajectory that has brought me before you today. I dare not do such a favour to any political adversary by repeating the same mistake of political overreach.
“A one-party state is not in the offing. Nor should it ever be.”
Tinubu, however, added that he would be guilty of ‘‘political malpractice if we closed the door on those from other parties who now seek to join the APC”.