Rivers accuses APC of engaging in absolutist politics

Rivers State government has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of engaging in political extremism akin to the religious extremism of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

The allegation was made in Lagos yesterday at a news event by Austin Tam-George, commissioner for information and communication, Rivers State.

Tam-George alleges that the APC-controlled government at the federal level may have lost touch with the real essence of coming to power in the first place, as it (APC) rather sees the position it now occupies as an opportunity to persecute members of the opposition.

According to Tam-George, “There are two forms of extremism that pose the greatest existential threat to Nigeria today. There is the religious extremism of Boko Haram, which has ravaged the North East of the country, and continues to spread fear and terror across the land.

“But there is an even more virulent cancer now spreading across the country: the cancer of the ruling party’s political fundamentalism. Since winning the general elections in May 2015, APC has been acting less as a political party, and more as an extremist group.

“The APC controls the central government, it is in charge in 23 of 36 states in the country; it dictates domestic and foreign policy, controls the armed forces, the police, and the national treasury. In other words, the APC has sufficient control of the country to place Nigeria on a new, progressive path. But rather than rise to the challenge of leadership, the APC seems to have lost every appetite or ability to govern.”

The commissioner, who also accuses the APC of politicising the security forces in the country, says the broom party is working in cahoots with “a retinue of surrogate lawyers, revisionist intellectuals, and even section of the media to suppress competing visions on how Nigeria should develop as a country.”

He urges the APC to rather focus on the pressing need of retooling the nation’s economy than dissipate energy on irrelevances.

“A situation where churches now feed communities because states can’t pay salaries; a situation where state governments have to seek loans to pay salaries because they have mismanaged the resources, these are the debates we should expect to see championed by the APC, which we are not seeing,” he says.

 

Zebulon Agomuo