A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos Fuad Oki has launched a splinter group within the party to reposition Lagos APC accusing the leaders of incompetence and imposition.
The splinter group accused the party leadership of the party in the state of engaging in “illegalities, manipulation and marginalisation” against members, warning that unless genuine reconciliation is allowed to take place, the party may be heading for a crisis and a disaster in an election year.
Oki, a former Director General of Governors Bola Tinubu, Tunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode’s campaign organisations and convener of BUM, “Our party suffers from low organisational capacity and lack of internal democracy. The resultant effect of this has been its incapacity to support our democracy as expected.”
At the inaugural meeting of the group which took place at the Absolute Lagos Lounge of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Oki, lamented that there are no templates established to promote inclusiveness and equity in the party.
“Today, our party in Lagos State is fading into insignificance. Massive membership exclusion is becoming the order of the day with members withdrawing from the political space and constituting themselves into internal opposition.
“It is in the light of all these, that the BUM will involve committed party members who will bring moral authority, character and wisdom in handling the delicate issue of reconciliation, unity and accord Oki said.”
He assured party members that from now on, their “votes will count and will be allowed to freely choose their leaders in a healthy competitive atmosphere.”
The BUM Leader lamented that the APC in the state “has never been this divided and disunited. The current graveyard silence that permeate our political landscape with a ‘siddon look’ syndrome is very dangerous,” adding that political parties are vital organisations in a democracy, and democracy is stronger when citizens become active members of political parties parties.”
Oki said that this unfortunately is what is lacking in party management in the state. “Unfortunately, the democratic culture in our state is characterised by factors such as illegalities, rigging, oppression, manipulation, marginalisation and violence.”
“Democracy and political participation are related to good governance; this relationship is complementary but appear to be antithetical in our political system. When democracy is abused, good governance becomes elusive and evasive”, he warned.
