By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Niger state, Mr. Jonathan Tsado Vatsa has cautioned the ruling party against imposing unpopular candidates in the name of consensus, stating this will only cause APC more harm than good.
Vatsa also warned the way and manner Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger state and the APC are adopting candidates not minding the feelings of the electorates, could force voter's to align with political parties that offers them more favourable condition as the next political dispensation draws closer.
Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, while baring his mind in an interview on the unfolding political scenario playing out in Niger state and at the national level, said the ongoing anti-people arrangements in the name of 'consensus' would hurt the APC badly in the general elections.
The current attempts by the APC at the local, states and national levels will not allow for seamless political processes to take place but spell doom for the party as the people would wait for them at the polling booths to counter their arrangements, he said
Vatsa who was also a former Publicity Secretary of APC in Niger state further emphasized that trying to please few political interests at the detriments of the electorates is not politics, adding that, “You can only rig elections when the people are with you,” he said.
He insisted that Nigerians must be allowed to decide who to lead them at all three tiers of government through a transparent democratic process and norms that will also see to the voting out of non-performing leaders. He further warns that strangulating opposition parties and turning around to impose candidates on the people is simply an invitation to anarchy.
“Non performing leaders should not have a place in the political space in 2027. People should be allowed to vote such leaders out at the local, states and national levels", he stated.
Speaking on the on-going crisis within opposition parties, Vatsa who attributed the trend to policies targeted at strangulating the opposition parties, said such anti- democratic norms is nothing but dictatorship which he believes is not healthy for the country’s hard-earned democracy.
“When you strangulate opposition parties to create a one party state, you are inviting serious anarchy. People will resist it because a one party state is not in our constitution, it is alien to our politics".
Vatsa said the ruling APC should have itself to blame for finding itself in the current desperate situation due to avoidable wrongs in recent past. “The APC enmeshed itself by taking some wrong decisions and that is why we find ourselves in this desperate situation.”
While emphasizing that APC led administration is the richest government since the return of democracy in 1999, he said yet Nigerians don’t feel the impact of their God-given wealth at all levels.
Vatsa however expressed regrets that, “There is excess money in their control but still poverty is dealing with people in the land". NNL.