A public affairs analyst, Marcel Ngogbehei, has accused opposition politicians of turning Nigeria’s political parties into personal vehicles for their presidential ambitions, alleging that they routinely take over existing party structures, sideline founding members and abandon the platforms when their electoral calculations fail.
He made the allegations in a statement on Saturday, while reacting to a recent Abuja High Court judgment sacking the African Democratic Congress, ADC, leadership under former Senate President, David Mark.
DAILY POST reports that the ADC has already appealed the judgment.
Reacting, Ngogbehei said Nigeria must move away from a political culture in which established parties are taken over by powerful politicians, leaving their original members struggling for control of the organisations they helped establish.
He cited the political journeys of former Vice-President and ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as examples of what he described as the instability and opportunism characterising opposition politics.
“He maintained that the ADC crisis was particularly instructive, given that the party was adopted by opposition heavyweights seeking to challenge the APC, only to become engulfed in leadership disputes and litigation over the legitimacy of its leadership structure.”
He argued that, unlike opposition party leaders, President Bola Tinubu’s political experience demonstrated a commitment to building enduring political structures.
He recalled Tinubu’s role in the development of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, Action Congress, AC, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and, the formation of the APC.