The All Progressives Congress, APC, has taken a swipe at Daily Trust newspaper over its Monday editorial titled “APC Should Learn From History,” describing it as a “sordid display of editorial bias, daftness and journalistic recklessness.”
In a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party said the editorial was designed to malign the APC and peddle falsehoods about recent defections by state governors to the party.
Morka said the newspaper’s position that defections to the APC “portend a dangerous trend towards the erosion of multi-party democracy and a descent into a despicable one-party state” was baseless and demonstrated a poor grasp of constitutional freedoms.
According to him, “The paper failed miserably to explain how the exercise by the governors of their constitutional freedom of association, and democratic liberty to choose among competing party alternatives, threatens the country’s multiparty democracy or signifies a descent into a system of one-party state.”
He maintained that there was no law in Nigeria restricting governors or any citizen from changing political affiliation.
“The paper postulated that citizens’ right to associate with any political organization must be exercised within the bounds of the law but failed to identify the law that prohibits governors from quitting the party platform on which they were elected and joining another party of their choice. The paper didn’t cite it because such law does not exist,” he said.
The APC spokesman described the editorial as “grossly bereft of reason, objectivity and rationality,” accusing the paper of echoing opposition propaganda.
“It was clearly based on the vile intent of its editors serving as a repeater station of the opposition’s senseless screams,” he added.
Morka argued that defections to the APC should be viewed as evidence of the party’s strength and the opposition’s weakness, not as a threat to democracy.
“The defections from opposition parties to our party deliver a damning indictment of their failed leadership, dysfunction and lack of internal democracy,” he noted.
He further accused Daily Trust of hypocrisy, saying the newspaper often praises defections when they favour opposition parties but condemns them when they benefit the APC.
“In the paper’s perspective, defections to APC is a threat to democracy but defections from APC to opposition parties advances democracy. That double standard is glaring, invidious and unacceptable,” he said.
Morka dismissed fears of Nigeria sliding into a one-party state as “wishful thinking,” stressing that the nation’s democracy remains vibrant.
“One-party states are not created by anyone’s wishful thinking. A total of about 19 political parties are registered and remain active in our multiparty democracy,” he said.
While acknowledging the media’s right to editorial opinion, the APC warned against what it called deliberate misinformation and falsehoods.
“It is a mark of crass irresponsibility for Daily Trust to peddle falsehoods, conjectures and outright deception as editorial material,” Morka declared.
He reaffirmed the party’s commitment to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which, he said, is focused on improving the welfare of citizens and building a stronger, more prosperous nation.