The former Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Masari says the All Progressives Congress, APC, as a major stakeholder in Nigeria’s politics has its fears for the Independent National Electoral Commission’s ability to conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2015 without interference from the presidency and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
Hon Masari disclosed this during a live interview on the London based BEN Television’s morning programme. The former speaker said that Nigerians are ready and willing to participate in the general elections and are ready to defend their votes. He condemned INEC’s inability to assure Nigerians of its readiness to conduct a credible election in 2015. ‘The country is ready for elections. We believe Nigeria has the capacity to have free and fair elections otherwise INEC should not give room to PDP to create a state of emergency. We will not give room for them to rig elections and we will reject anything from INEC that favours the PDP’.
Hon Masari stated that his party, APC, would not boycott the general elections but would ensure that every vote counts when he was asked if his party would boycott the elections in 2015 since the party, APC, is already complaining about INEC’s ability to conduct free and credible elections. ‘No, we will not boycott the election, we have a responsibility towards every Nigerian, and we will participate in the election but resist attempt to rig the elections or force any president on us’.
Commending former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s defection to the All Progressives Congress Party, the former speaker said that Atiku’s decision to dump the PDP which he Atiku left in 2006 and later rejoined was due to the party’s failure to imbibe the principle of internal democracy and the fact that PDP has lost the vision of its founding fathers to provide good life for every Nigerian. ‘He (Atiku) returned to the PDP then hoping that the party will agree to the principle of internal democracy and follow the ideals of its founding fathers, but when he saw that he was wrong and that the party has lost its focus and was not worth it any longer, he decided to move to a more suitable party to be able to move Nigeria forward’.
Commenting on the proposed National Dialogue, Hon Masari said that the National Dialogue being put together by the Jonathan Government will not produce any positive result. He ruled out the possibility of his party joining or recognising the National Dialogue if the principles are not wholly acceptable to Nigerian.
