The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has said that the ruling party has no desire to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.
Morka, speaking with journalists on Thursday, said the defections of opposition party members to the APC do not mean the ruling party wants a one-party system.
He stated that when the PDP was in power, the party controlled over 28 states without being accused of turning the country into a one-party state.
Morka said there’s nothing wrong with PDP and Labour Party members defecting to the APC if they desire to identify with the ruling party’s processes.
“Many of these people are coming in and saying, we want to be part of the process. We want to identify with that process. There’s nothing wrong with that. And you know, that does not mean that we desire for Nigeria to then become a one party system,” he said.
He explained that Nigeria is a pluralist country and that the APC cannot afford to violate the Constitution by engendering a one-party system. To do that, he explained, would require a constitutional amendment, which, according to him, is “nearly impossible.”
“As our country, both in the Constitution, in Electoral Act, and a plethora of other laws, have embedded systems that unmistakably make Nigeria a multi party and pluralist society. So we cannot as a party desire to go against the force of the Constitution, to say we want a party. Because to do that, you have to change a lot, which is nearly impossible to change,” he explained.
The ruling party’s National Publicity Secretary dismissed the one-party narrative, saying the APC only worries about how it’ll continue to protect itself.
VANGUARD