National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Wednesday said ruling parties require a strong opposition to keep it on its toes for the benefit of the populace.
Odigie-Oyegun said this while receiving in audience the former President of Niger Republic, Alhaji Mamman Usman, who led a delegation to pay him a courtesy visit at the party’s national headquarters, Abuja, to congratulate him on the 2015 election victory.
The APC chairman, who commended the former Nigerien leader for the visit, said democracy is “not just about periodic conduct of elections but a commitment to a cause of giving a choice to the people in a free and fair manner.”
He said despite the efforts of several Nigerian opposition parties to form coalitions and alliances in the past, they are always frustrated by the political party in power.
According to him, the separate political parties that form the APC were not given a chance to survive let alone win the elections.
He said the APC survived several attempts to scuttle its formation and operations until the elections. Odigie-Oyegun noted that the situation got so bad that the then ruling People’s Democratic Party resorted to smear campaigns and intimidation in a bid to frustrate its (APC) Presidential candidate and leaders.
Earlier, the former Nigerien president, Mamman Usman, said his visit to the party secretariat was to, among other things, congratulate the party leaders of its victory in the 2015 elections.
He said he was part of election observer missions to Nigeria in 1999 and 2011, but that he was not privileged to be part of those for the 2015 elections.
Usman, however, said he monitored the elections until the results were announced.
He said Nigeria’s neighbours always follow Nigeria’s elections with a lot of apprehension because the stability or otherwise of Nigeria has a ripple effect, not only for the West African sub-region, but also the entire continent.
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