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The Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar yesterday condemned the perceived absence of internal democracy in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that the development has translated to bullying of party members. The leader of the party made the statement during the second Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) of Nigeria annual conference held in Abuja. In the paper titled "Internal Party Democracy: A Recipe to a Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria".


Atiku lamented that some political parties in the country were finding it difficult to hold meetings or constitutes essential institutions within the party as prescribed by the constitution. Recall that the APC was yet to organize its elective national convention as well as constitute the Board of Trustees among others.


According to him “For a number of years now we have had political parties, even governing ones, which hardly hold meetings of their important organs, including those meant for the democratic selection of their leadership, or even constitute institutions prescribed in their Constitution"

 

“In the absence of those meetings and elections, their existing leadership, often under the direction of the executive at the state or federal level, fills the void. That’s not party building but party bullying. And it’s certainly not a way to democratize parties and aggregate their members’ opinions, interests and aspirations"


“The selection of leaders in a democracy is a serious business because so many other things ride on it. Whenever we get it wrong the nation or a part thereof suffers. We must strive to get it right most of the time. And it is the voters who should freely make that determination” he added.


The statement further fuels the report that the former Vice President may be perfecting plans to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

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