Jonathan’s Endorsement As Sole Candidate Mockery Of Democracy, Says APC

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

By Niyi Adeyi

The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted the endorsement by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) high hierarchy of President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate for the 2015 presidential election to the exclusion of other aspirants in the party, describing the development as a mockery of democracy.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party stated the endorsement has come at a great price to Nigerians, given the obvious deals that were struck to make Mr. President as the sole candidate of his party.

The sole candidate decision APC declared represented parody of democracy and it has has exposed the “shameless hypocrisy” of the PDP, which it said was ever eager to accuse other parties of lacking internal democracy.

”Obviously, those fellows in the PDP have never heard of the saying that those who must come to equity must come with clean hands. PDP, where is your own internal democracy now that you have turned your party into a fiefdom controlled by one and only one person only?

”While endorsements are part and parcel of democracy, they are never done to the exclusion of other candidates. This is simply not democratic. When then candidate Barrack Obama was endorsed by his party’s bigwigs to contest the US Presidency, the party never excluded Hillary Clinton from its primaries. That’s how it is done,” APC said.

The party stressed the price being paid for Jonathan’s endorsement by Nigeria was too heavy, considering the ruling party Governors who spearheaded the endorsement and have now secured perpetual immunity from prosecution by anti-graft bodies, including the EFCC and the ICPC; the automatic tickets for all first-term PDP Governors, whether or not they have performed, the automatic tickets for all PDP Governors running for the Senate, as well as the free ride back to the Upper Chamber for Senate President David Mark.

”It is now an Open Sesame for the PDP Governors, who have no prying anti-corruption agencies watching over their shoulders. They can now simply see the commonwealth as an extension of their deep pockets. The endorsement is also a vote of approval for the proceeds of corruption that have been powering the noisy and outrageous Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN),” the party declared.

APC also accused President Jonathan of desecrating the country’s democracy

owing to his re-election ambition, adding: ”It is a cruel irony that a man who has benefited, more than anyone else, from this democracy has been the one who has been doing everything possible to undermine it.”

The party observed the President has abandoned his domestic duties and concentrated on seeking international relevance, in a clear negation of the “aphorism that charity begins at home”.

”This President has basically abandoned governance. Unprecedented corruption is mounting, insecurity stalks the land and Nigerians grope in darkness as power generation has plummeted. This President has yet to tell Nigerians the full involvement of his government in the 9.3 million dollars that was illegally ferried to South Africa on a

private jet. This President has yet to tell Nigerians why he has continued to hobnob with an alleged sponsor of Boko Haram, who is supposed to be under a probe by his Administration. Yet, he is eager to attend meetings with serious-minded leaders who have done well for their own people.

”Mr. President, it is only when you have achieved success domestically that you can parade yourself internationally. You cannot look good abroad if you look ugly at home,” APC contended.