APC Is A Threat To Democracy – Obanikoro

Power Game: APC, threat to democracy–Obanikoro



Since you served out your term as an ambassador, you have been maintaining a very low profile. Why?

When you are a grassroots person and all of a sudden you find yourself in diplomatic assignment for four years, there is no doubt that your life would be moderated in a way. I can say that my diplomatic exposure has to a reasonable extent moderated my carriage and disposition to things generally. If that is what you characterized as being mellowed, it is not far from the truth.

A new political evolution is evolving in Nigeria with the emergence of All progressives Congress (APC). How do you see this development in the light of the challenge they are likely to give the PDP in the coming election?

I will characterize this development as a desperate effort on the part of opportunists to hijack power for selfish and personal reasons. Yes, Gen Muhammadu Buhari is a man of integrity, he is a man known for selflessness. He doesn’t go for personal enrichment. But if you look at other people who are championing this amalgamation, their credentials do not support what they are propagating. Let me start from the Chairman of the committee that was set up to mid-wife the coming together of these political parties-Tom Ikime. He was our chairman when I was in the National Republican Convention (NRC). But when Abacha came on board, he was more or less the spokesperson of the military government. Even when Ken Saro Wiwa was killed, Ikimi did not see the need to quit Abacha government. This was a government that terrorized the whole Nigeria before it was terminated. How can such a person now come out to say that he is a democrat? Or is it Tinubu that is one of the beneficiaries of Babangida’s annulment of the June 12 presidential election? He also procured election results in Osun and Ekiti States. These are people who do not believe in the rule of law nor have the interest of the masses at heart. One of them has become an emperor in Lagos State. The other one practically took the whole of Nigeria for a ride when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Abacha government. One of the parties in the merger, the All Nigeria People Party (ANPP), created Boko Haram. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is headed by Tinubu who is by no mean a democrat and who has enriched himself beyond imagination of anybody. He has refused to allow internal democracy within ACN. We all know too the antecedent of Ikime during the era of military dictator-late Sani Abacha. It is only Buhari that stands out as a man of integrity. And if you ask me, I will say he is tired. I saw his debate during the last presidential election. You and I cannot stand up and say that was Buhari of old. So, as far as I am concerned, all this grandstanding will not get them anywhere because they have nothing new to offer.