The All Progressives Congress (APC), has decried the recent statement by Professor Attahiru Jega in which he advised Nigerians not to vote for either APC or PDP, alleging that both parties have failed the nation repeatedly.
According to the former INEC chairman; “Nigerians should dump the two parties because of their bad antecedents over the last 20 years.”
However, the leadership of the APC has reacted to Jega’s outburst, arguing that the ruling party is ‘thriving and cleaning up the massive mess left by the PDP’.
The position of the party was made known by the National Secretary Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) for APC, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe Ph.D.
According to Sen. James, Prof Jega is right about PDP, however he should stop meddling in partisan politics, rather he should focus on his academic pursuit.
“Our attention has been drawn to an uncontrolled, wrong and untenable political outburst by a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega in which he lumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), together with the failed People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“While the PDP failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians as a government and oppositon party, the APC is thriving, healthy and assiduously cleaning the massive mess left behind by the PDP which failed to deliver democratic dividends to the people of Nigeria after being in charge of the country for 16 years.
“While Professor Jega is right about the PDP, a party under which he served as the Chairman of the nation’s election management body, we reject his comparison of the APC with the PDP.
“Professor Jega got his facts wrong and mixed up in his baseless comparison of the PDP with the APC.
“While we do not intend to join issues with Professor Jega, we encourage him to engage in genuine scholarly research and come up with evidence-based conclusions on the progessive orientation of the APC.
“It is however instructive to note that having recently abandoned his academic pursuit and blindly plunged into the arena of PDP’s brand of politics, the erstwhile electoral umpire as a politician can make such political statements occassionally while trying to launch his political career in a mushroom political party.
“The APC is a strong, united, popular and focused political unit. Hence, the Professor should note the political lesson that maligning the APC would not provide him a springboard to achieve his desires. Nigerians are wiser and remain the ultimate judges.” He said.
