In a recent interview with Arise Television, Senator Sunday Karimi, Chairman of the Senate Services Committee, defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against allegations of engineering a drift toward a one-party state.
Addressing concerns over the growing dominance of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Karimi asserted that Tinubu’s efforts to strengthen his party should not be misconstrued as a threat to Nigeria’s democratic plurality.
According to the senator, the disarray within opposition parties is a reflection of their unpreparedness for governance, not the making of the president.
The words of Karimi at some point during the interview read, “politics is a race, and it is a game for those that are ready for it.” It is not the responsibility of President Tinubu to organise other parties. If other parties are disorganised, is that his business? If they are disorganised, then they are not ready to govern Nigeria.”
He further stated that “when you talk about a one-party state, our constitution is very clear in section 39 that there is freedom of speech and freedom of association.”
“If you like, you can join up with some group of people that are disorganised, and you will continue to sink with them. Those other parties have their rights to remain in the party. You know that they are also trying to form a coalition against the government of Tinubu so that they can take power from him.”
“So if they are trying to bring themselves together and others are trying to join APC, what has President Tinubu done wrong? Tinubu is trying to strengthen the APC. Trying to strengthen the APC doesn’t mean that he is trying to turn Nigeria to a one-party state.” Karimi said.
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