APC Has Right To Respond All Critics, We’re Not Losing Sleep On Coalition – Morka

The spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has said it would be undemocratic to expect the ruling party to remain silent to criticisms of the opposition parties and politicians.

Naija News reports that Morka said the party and President Bola Tinubu are not worried by the coalition talks among some politicians and parties.

Speaking with News Central on Friday, Morka noted that Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and President Tinubu contested the 2023 election, yet Tinubu won.

He said that alone showed no coalition or movement championed by Pat Utomi can unsettle the APC and President Tinubu.

“Utomi is a very prolific creator of systems and arrangements and experiments that have never materialized. It’s a fact. That’s what he does. And that is fine. Utomi is a great guy. We are friends. So there’s nothing that he’s doing that is really exceptional now that he didn’t do before. He’s done that. The coalition he attempted to create with others before the 2023 election didn’t make a dent in the outcome of the election. Peter Obi ran the election. You know, Asiwaju, who is the president today, President Bola Tinubu, won the election. And we are closing in on two years after that election. Atiku Abubakar was also a candidate for the PDP in that election. So, there’s no formation that they are up to now that begins to threaten the APC or to make us lose sleep,” he said.

APC Can’t Be Denied Right To Respond

Morka stressed that expecting the ruling party to remain silent on unfounded criticism against the President and the party is not possible.

He noted that APC has a democratic right to refute false claims of opposition parties and politicians. He stated that the party’s response does not mean fear but liberty and right.

“But see, let me make something very clear. I think that sometimes we think that because APC is the ruling party, that when people say things and they do things and they make statements, especially when they make false statements that create very misleading impression, divisive, rhetoric, the APC should just be quiet and say nothing because we’re the ruling party. That is not how a democracy works.

“In the opposition, when you speak and you take a position and you advocate the position, especially when you begin to spew positions that are, like I said, divisive, that are misleading, that are intent on promoting discord. The ruling party also has a democratic right and liberty to respond.

“But see, every time you see response, then people say they’re in panic or they are in some mode or they are trying to stifle. No,” he stated.

Democracy Thriving In Nigeria

The APC spokesman added that Utomi’s declaration of a shadow government showed democracy is thriving in the country, contrary to the positions of some opposition politicians.

“As a matter of fact, in how many democracies would you find someone like Patrick Utomi who takes a microphone and proclaims a shadow government and names a shadow cabinet without any big deal, without anybody really losing sleep? The fact that Utomi did that, that act by itself, I think is eloquent testimony that our democracy is completely thriving. It’s flourishing.

“He didn’t stop the President from doing his business in Anambra as he did yesterday (Thursday). He didn’t stop anybody from living their lives. So the point I’m making is that, as a matter of fact, Utomi, by his declaration, provides evidence, incontrovertible evidence, that our democracy is robust and that the President of his leadership is affording everyone, including Patrick Utomi and those with him, the liberty to speak as they wish,” he added.