A founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday said the proposed All Democratic Alliance, ADA, will enhance President Bola Tinubu’s second term victory.
Okechukwu urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register ADA.
Atiku, El-Rufai opposition coalition seeks INEC registration for new party, ADA
The National Opposition Coalition Group had formally requested INEC’s approval to register ADA.
This was contained in a letter dated June 19 and jointly signed by the association’s Protem National Chairman, Chief Akin A. Rickets, and Protem National Secretary, Abdullahi Elayo.
There are claims that ADA may likely be the party to be adopted by the opposition coalition spearheaded by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, and others.
However, the former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, said the possible registration of ADA would be a welcomed development.
Speaking with journalists, Okechukwu expressed hope that INEC will register ADA, relying on the Supreme Court judgment the All Progressives Congress got when it was in opposition.
He submitted that INEC is independent and should not bother about APC.
According to Okechukwu: “My take on the formation of All Democratic Alliance (ADA) is that it is a welcome development, one because I am an apostle of a multiparty system, which allows all the flowers to blossom and all the voices to be heard.
“Methinks sincerely that the ADA, contrary to their promoters’ success mindset, will enhance our party’s victory, especially President Tinubu’s second term.
“ADA promoters are benchmarking their strategy on the false premise that the northern electorate are quartered in dormitories and will be hauled to the polling booths to vote for a would-be northern presidential candidate.
“As if either they forget or deliberately ignore that the northern electorates are one of the most sophisticated electorates in our political landscape.”
On the claims that the North is very angry with Tinubu, he opined that the village square story may be assuming that the major infrastructural development projects of the President in both North and South are flukes.
“And that the geographical development commissions, plus financial autonomy of local government councils, are idle talk?” he queried.
Okechukwu recalled that recently the ADA promoters flew the kite that by 2027 the South will have presided over Nigeria for 17 years, whilst the North will have presided for only 11 years.
He said that this fraudulent calculation is purely based on conviction bias, especially when “we recall that the proper calculation is that the North has presided more years over Nigeria since independence in 1960 than the South.”
He added: “That the North has presided over Nigeria more than the South was the premise people of goodwill and patriotic Nigerian politicians considered before instituting the rotation convention that the president should rotate from North to South and vice versa in 1999.”
On ADA nominating a southerner as a presidential candidate if registered, Okechukwu quipped that even if they respect the rotation convention and float a southern candidate, “one is afraid that their huge appetite for power will becloud their vision and broadmindedness to accommodate folks in the PDP, APGA, NNPP, and Labour Party.”