Kogiflame
A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Muhammed Abubakar Bulky has accused the party of not being run as a truly democratic party.
A leading Senatorial aspirant in Kogi West made the accusations in an interview with newsmen on Sunday while giving reasons for his decision to dump the party.
Bukky said his decision and plans to pursue his senatorial ambition on another party platform was borne out of the level of impunity in the party which ran contrary to his personal principle.
“The very reason is the fact that APC as a party, and especially the Kogi State chapter, is not being run the way a truly democratic party should be run. The APC Kogi State chapter has more or less become an individual’s personal property.”
According to him, “APC, as a party in Kogi State, has become a platform which people are expected to run on, yet is being controlled from the bedroom or residential guest quarters of an individual, in this case, the governor of Kogi State”.
“I feel that you get to a point in life where there are some things you should not tolerate. If as a politician, I have to go through the informal leaders who reside in the leader’s residential quarters even to be able to have relationship with the leader, something must be wrong with the system”. He noted.
He said that is why most politicians end up being nomadic politicians.
“There is the reign of impunity everywhere; people’s opinions, positions are not respected by the party leadership. Basically, this is the reason most Nigerian politicians switch parties as often as you can get. So, I decided to dump the APC, at this point, when it becomes clear that I should no longer tolerate the reign of impunity, lack of tolerance for democratic norms in APC, Kogi State chapter.
Bukky said that the reign of impunity has been on but the ticket thing is the final straw as the party has not allowed level 0oaying ground in line with the Electoral Act that requires that any political party that wants to field candidates for election should go for primaries.
” It is expected that a level-playing field be provided for direct, indirect primary or the so-called consensus. But, a situation where the most influential, powerful person in the party, in this case the leader of the party, will call the local government party chairmen to come and endorse aspirants nomination forms in his house yet promise is being made that you are providing a level-playing field, you could see that something is wrong with that system.
According to him, “A lot of people are stomaching these things because they don’t have a choice or they feel they should continue to tag along.
Bukky who promised to revealed his next political party, said he will do that in coming days.
Meanwhile, the state Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Bello has denied imposition of candidates in the party.
According to him, there is no iota of truth in the allegation, at best I can say such allegation is in the figment of their imagination.
The party has already invited all interested aspirants into any elective offices to come forward to obtain nomination forms and they have been doing that,show could anyone talk about imposition?
