All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Barr. Felix Morka, has dismissed claims that undue influence caused the recent APC defections in Nigeria.
Speaking on Arise News on Saturday night, Morka described the allegations as baseless. He questioned how anyone could manipulate elected governors who control their own budgets and exercise executive powers.
“In a country as massive as Nigeria, how do you cajole governors who are chief executive officers of their states?” he asked. “They control their budgets and appropriate funds. What exactly would you tell a governor to cajole him?”
Morka urged opposition parties to focus on fixing their internal crises instead of blaming the APC for their losses.
“If the PDP, Labour, or ADC look inward, they will find that their dysfunction and failure of leadership drive people away,” he said. “Nobody wants to remain on a sinking ship. No serious politician would stay in a party that offers no hope of redemption.”
Addressing fears that the APC defections in Nigeria threaten democracy or signal a shift to a one-party state, Morka rejected such claims.
“I have no concern whatsoever about that,” he stated. “People leaving their parties to join the APC are simply exercising their democratic freedom to choose among alternatives. They are choosing our party.”
He described allegations that the APC seeks to dominate Nigeria’s political space as false and misleading.
“It would be disingenuous to describe the development as a threat to democracy,” Morka asserted. “Would you have the APC become a gatekeeper deciding who can or cannot come in? Democracy is a system of freedoms, and it is not fair or permissible to limit people’s right to choose. The fact that people join the APC does not mean we have a one-party system.”
