By Jude Opara, Abuja
A member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has described the recent calls by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and a leading member of the Labour Party (LP), Dr. Pat Utomi for merger to defeat the APC as lacking in proper contextual foundation.
Recall that there has been strident calls for merger, by Dr Pat Utomi and host of others which was hyped by the former vice president, while commenting on the presidential election in Senegal which brought Bassirou Faye as President-elect.
Atiku was quoted as saying that; “last Saturday’s election in Senegal follows the trend of that in Nigeria in 2015 that the opposition can indeed be victorious in an election conducted by the ruling party.
“And for the opposition parties, the lessons are in agreement with my persistent call for our opposition parties to forge a coalition that is formidable enough to oust the ruling party if the salvaging of Nigeria is to stand any chance.”
However, Okechukwu who also served as a member of the merger committee that birthed the APC to become a formidable opposition party, said there are many reasons to dismiss these calls because of the erroneous premises on which they were based.
On the possibility that the persistent call for opposition political parties to forge a formidable coalition to defeat the APC like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated in 2015, the former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) said the current circumstances hugely differ remarkably.
Okechukwu said; “Secondly, dethroning an incumbent President should not be a political pastime, but as a practical political consciousness to remove an underperforming administration. Tinubu sure, steady and more allocations to state governments.”
He equally argued that the difference in socio-economic situation of Nigeria between 2015 and 2024 is clear, stressing that while in 2015, Nigeria lost focus, but insisted that today, despite the socio-economic hardship, both the international and local communities agree that President Bola Tinubu’s government has courage, vision and focus.
“Yes, my understanding is that Atiku was referring to the current socio-economic hardship, but the truth is that whether you like it or not President Tinubu has focus. In 2015, under President Goodluck Jonathan, there was little or no hope.
“Luckily, Mr. President has with his economic reforms, won the confidence of the international community. All he needs is to domesticate his economic programme to benefit the greatest number of Nigerians.”
According to him, while it is true that formidable opposition coalition is a healthy tonic for Nigeria’s democracy, it is however incumbent on the likes of Atiku and Utomi to convince Nigerians on which economic philosophy the coalition would be built.
“Nigerians know that all the leading presidential candidates in 2023 were all neo-liberals. For instance, like Tinubu, Atiku and Obi agreed to remove fuel subsidy and to harmonize the foreign exchange rate.
“Since they all belong to the neo-liberal school of thought and are capitalists, they better support Mr. President, because the success of Tinubu’s economic reforms is better for such students more than those of us who subscribe to the belief that government has business in our welfare.”
