Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Former Vice President and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, wednesday said it was wrong for the party to have set aside a resolution it had reached aimed at resolving the crisis in the party in Ondo State.
He noted that since the APC found veritable reasons to review the outcome of the gubernatorial primary election it conducted in the state, and was able to establish valid grounds to cancel that primary election and call for a fresh one, the decision to deviate from its own resolution is a negation of due process and an unfashionable hollow in democratic best practices.
Atiku who made his position known in a statement by his media office yesterday, said the party is supposed to be an impartial entity in the arbitration of crisis among its members in any given election.
“It was wrong for the APC to have set aside a resolution it had reached aimed at resolving the crisis in our party in Ondo State. It is a recipe for acrimony and division,” he said.
The former vice-president also noted that pretending a problem does not exist won’t make that problem go away, and therefore, advised the leadership of the party to do a soul searching and address why this problem arose and escalated.
According to Atiku, the party leadership should always be guided by respect for the rules, fairness, equity, neutrality and respect for democratic consensus.
The former vice-president, however, urged aggrieved members of the APC in the Ondo State election to exercise restraint in seeking redress to the crisis, while also urging the leadership of the party to retrace its steps and do the needful to restore confidence among the conflicting parties in the state for the overall benefit of the ruling party.
Atiku gave the counsel against the background of the festering crisis trailing the conduct of the APC gubernatorial primary in the state.
He charged the APC on the promotion of rule of law and due process in the conduct of its affairs, noting that they are germane to the unity and stability of the party.
Atiku said it was imperative for the national leadership of the party to live by the rules of internal democracy and respect for democratic consensus, warning that “you cannot break your own rules without creating problems.”
