The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Felix Morka, has stated that the ruling party is not responsible for strengthening the opposition.
He added that the APC remains strong despite pressure from within and outside the party.
The APC spokesperson was responding to concerns that recent defections to the ruling party could push Nigeria towards a one-party state.
Speaking on TVC on Friday, Morka said, “The APC today, clearly, in comparison to all of the other parties in the opposition, is holding its own.
“Our party is standing very strong and resilient, even in the face of enormous pressures, both internal and external, and that’s what a party should be.”
He noted that every political organisation is bound to face challenges.
“A political party shouldn’t be an entity without its own internal challenges,” he added.
“But I think what matters is how it deals with those challenges — how the party manages those contradictions or internal conflicts of interest, which are natural to every institution, especially a political party that is an agglomeration of people who may have diverse interests and come from diverse backgrounds,” he said.
Morka dismissed suggestions that the APC is weakening democracy by receiving defectors from other parties.
“There is no democratic idea, norm, or system anywhere in the world where a ruling party is under obligation to build the opposition,” he said.
“Parties are in business to compete for power. That’s what they are supposed to do. That’s the idea behind any democratic system.
“So this idea, this suggestion that people coming into the APC means the APC is undermining democracy, is ridiculous.”
The APC spokesman blamed Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, for the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said Abubakar flouted the party’s constitution by contesting the 2023 presidential election despite a zoning arrangement that favoured the South.
“The problem in the PDP was Atiku’s obdurate refusal to abide by the convention of his own party and its constitution,” he said.
“He had no business running in that election when, under their constitution, a southern candidate was mandated, under the rotational agreement, to run.
“He was the one who created the problem. So it wasn’t just his nomination, he was, in fact, at the root of the problem the PDP is facing today,” he added.
