Abolade Rufai, All Progressives Congress Secretary, Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, says the party is not responsible for failure of other parties to field candidates for the 2025 council poll in the state.
Rufai in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria at the Ward D Poling Unit 042, on Saturday, said the APC focused much on its campaign and grassroots mobilisation rather than what is happening in other parties.
“The allegation that APC is destabilising other political parties is a fallacy.
“For instance, APC lost the last presidential election in Lagos state to the Labour Party and no one accused it of destabilsation.
“Even the Labour Party 2023 governorship candidate is still granting interviews. Did the APC try to stop him?
“APC will not be responsible if other parties perform poorly or otherwise in this election,” he said.
Rufai further said that failure of other parties to field candidates for the local government areas and LCDAs election due to their lack of internal democracy should not be laid at the doorstep of APC.
“We are not responsible for their political failures; after all, their problem is not APC’s concern.
“Those parties should have come out to test their popularity in this election which is basically grassroots based, this is where politics starts and not from the top.
“APC will not put the houses of other parties in order, they have to do that by themselves.
“If our own house in APC is tidy, it is because we have done something differently and if they lack the capacity to put their houses in order, they should join us,” he said.
Rufai added that APC is ready to offer assistance in teaching other parties internal democracy and how it could be achieved.
“Our doors are open to everyone and members of political parties having internal wranglings.”
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Rufai also gave the local government election turnout a pass mark, saying that the structure is much more different from other major elections.
“From experience, the turnout of local government elections since 1999 had always been considered low which is not a new thing.
“Presidential election always attracts larger turnouts because people are mostly interested in who would become their President, and also their governor.
“The electoral commissions have a lot to do to encourage massive turn out in council polls.
“For this election, people do come to vote and head back to their houses, they don’t have time to supervise because it is local, this is because the people they want to vote in are already known to them,” he said.
NAN reports that only APC and the PDP fielded candidates in chairmanship and councilorship positions for the Onigbongbo LCDA.
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