Ebun Francis || The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned that the party must not follow the path of impunity made famous by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) but must instead do all everything possible to uphold the tenets of internal democracy.
The former Lagos state governor and senator of the federal republic was responding to comments credited to governor Rochas Okorocha over his opposition to the idea of automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 election.
Tinubu’s reaction was contained in a statement by his spokesman Tunde Rahman on Monday.
The statement read, “Asiwaju (Tinubu) never said anything that could be interpreted as meaning or even implying the governors are irrelevant or insignificant to the party’s nomination process.”
“As a former governor and a leading statesman within the party, such words would never come from him.
“Moreover, Asiwaju is a democrat who believes that the open and democratic processes of the APC, which led to the nomination of President Buhari in the first instance, have served the party well and has helped distinguish APC from PDP and other parties where fairness and internal democracy are rare commodities.
“Every individual has a right to endorse or support a candidate of his choosing. What Asiwaju said at that encounter and still canvasses is that the APC should not mimic the PDP’s penchant for short-circuiting internal democracy by promoting the idea of an automatic ticket.
“The exercise of internal democracy and honouring the letter and spirit of party rules can only strengthen the party and enthuse its members.
“APC’s all-inclusive philosophy was not devised today. It had been with the party since its creation. It was this spirit, which we believe, attracted fellow progressives and those who genuinely believe in democracy in all of its aspects to the party. Asiwaju includes Governor Okorocha in this group.”
Okorocha had over the weekend in Ondo State said that Tinubu was crying more than the bereaved following the announcement last month by the Imo State governor that more than thirty of his colleagues had endorsed President Buhari for a second term.