The Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), South, Chief Emma Eneukwu, has described the accusation of a one-party system against the party as a ploy to blackmail, weaken or slow down its progress.
Eneukwu told newsmen on Wednesday in Enugu while reacting to 26 uninterrupted years of democracy in Nigeria.
He maintained that the current accusation by some opposition politicians was alarmist deception and not a sincere position.
The deputy chairman added that the One-Party-State slogan of the opposition political parties was a strategy to either blackmail or weaken the APC or slow it down, but it will not work.
“APC is working and delivering on its mandate to Nigerians. Nigeria, despite all the challenges we met on the ground, is working and democracy is progressing.
“This is the 26th unbroken year of democracy and Nigeria is matching on. If you talk of a one-party state, it is a forceful stoppage of other parties from doing what they want to do. But that is not the case here.
“APC has allowed free discussions, associations and events as well as free attempted coalitions.
“But their coalitions have refused to fly because Nigerians know better, they know they cannot be deceived again for narrow interests. They lack confidence in calling them (Nigerians) for the so-called coalition,” he said.
Eneukwu noted that President Bola Tinubu had remained focused on revitalising the economy “while the opposition politicians have been going up and down to destabilise him, but he has remained focused, and we are reaping the fruit of that visionary leadership.”
“People are talking about coalition. Tinubu, himself, is the coalition. All progressives, all APC members, prospective defectors and all patriotic and forward-looking Nigerians are part of this winning Tinubu’s coalition,” he said.
The APC Chieftain attributed the magnetic force pulling prominent politicians and Nigerians to the ruling party as Tinubu’s clear show of courage, vision and capacity to govern the nation and lead the APC to incremental progress over the years.
“APC as a party with the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a focused core progressive, is a shining example of success everyone, especially politicians and prominent Nigerians, wants to associate with,” he said.
The deputy national chairman commended Tinubu’s administration for the vision, and for funding regional development commissions to complement what state governors were doing in infrastructure and social amenities at geo-political zones.
“The commissions are good developmental initiatives which the APC-led Federal Government has engendered; the idea behind their creation is that there should be no end to efforts to take development to the nooks and crannies of our country.
“And I see the regional commissions as a catalyst to achieve that shortly,” he said.
Eneukwu also lauded Tinubu’s administration for huge investment and support to the armed forces and for putting security and its funding on the front burner.
He emphasised that all hands must be on deck on security, adding, “Across the world, where you see insecurity being effectively tamed, it is a product of a multi-faceted and multi-layered approach.”
“From local governments, vigilantes, Forest Guards, traditional institutions and state governments to federal institutions, everyone must put in their best, in that way, we will defeat all forms of violent crimes and insecurity,” he said.
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