The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it cannot be compared with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The ruling party said this reaction to comments made by Attahiru Jega, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The former INEC chairman had said both political parties have failed Nigerians.
Responding via a statement issued on Monday, John Akpanudoedehe, national secretary of the APC caretaker committee, said Jega’s comparison is “baseless”.
Akpanudoedehe said his party is cleaning the mess made by the PDP and that it is a focused political unit.
“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,” he said.
“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 progressive orientation of the APC.”
The APC secretary said Jega has abandoned his academic pursuit and “blindly plunged into the arena of PDP’s brand of politics,” adding that he is “trying to launch his political career in a mushroom political party. The APC is a strong, united, popular and focused political unit,” he said.
“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.”