The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday cautioned the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to stop attacking the party because of his political interest.
Jega had in a chat with journalists advised Nigerians not to vote for the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections.
He described the two parties as failures.
The ex-INEC chief encouraged Nigerians to support the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), saying the party has the solutions to Nigeria’s challenges.
But in a statement issued by the National Secretary of its Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), James Akpanudoedehe, APC counseled the ex-election umpire against its comparison with the PDP.
It also described Jega’s statement as an uncontrolled, wrong, and untenable political outburst.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to an uncontrolled, wrong and untenable political outburst by a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, in which he lumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), together with the failed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
While the PDP failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians as a government and opposition 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.
“While Prof. 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.
“Prof. 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 Prof. Jega, we encourage him to engage in genuine scholarly research and come up with evidence-based conclusions on the progressive orientation of the APC.
“It is however instructive to note that having recently abandoned his academic pursuit and blindly plunged into the arena of PDP’s brand of politics, the erstwhile electoral umpire as a politician can make such political statements occasionally while trying to launch his political career in a mushroom political party.
“The APC is a strong, united, popular, and focused political unit. Hence, the Professor should note the political lesson that maligning the APC would not provide him with a springboard to achieve his desires. Nigerians are wiser and remain the ultimate judges.”
