The Labour Party (LP), on Tuesday, mocked the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the party’s internal squabbles, particularly the fight that broke out on Sunday at its North-East zonal meeting.
Chairs and punches were thrown at the venue in Gombe, the Gombe State capital, as some enraged members protested the endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for reelection in 2027 at the meeting, which excluded Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
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Reacting to the incident on Tuesday, the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the party, Senator Nenadi Usman, said it was ironic that the fighting took place just days after President Tinubu celebrated the crises in the opposition political parties.
Tinubu, at a joint session with the National Assembly to commemorate Democracy Day on June 12, had said that he savoured seeing the opposition parties being in disarray.
“For me, I would say try your best to keep your house in order. I will not help you do so.
“It is indeed a pleasure to witness you in such disarray”, Tinubu had stated in reference to the crises in the opposition political parties.
On Tuesday, Senator Usman reacted, saying, “It is an irony of history that just days after such an undemocratic and unguarded remark, his own party, the APC, is engulfed in a public crisis in the North-East.”
She noted that the ruling party’s attempt to enforce a “one-man agenda” had exposed the APC’s internal issues, worse than those of the opposition.
Usman added, “The people of the North East rejected the charade. The fallout is now visible to all: smuggled party officials, a fractured house, and a nation watching.
“This is not poetic justice. It is political karma. What President Tinubu wished for others has turned to plague his own political household.”
She argued that it was embarrassing enough for the APC to attempt to sideline the VP in his own geopolitical zone, saying that it was a sign of desperation to hold on to power beyond 2027.
Usman stated further, “Democracy thrives not when power is consolidated, but when it is contested with responsibility and honour.
“This moment should serve as a mirror for the president—a time for introspection, not petty triumphalism. Nigeria deserves better than the politics of sabotage and suppression.”
Criticising Tinubu’s Thursday comments, Usman described them as unbecoming of a democratic leader and indicative of a disturbing dislike for the foundational principles of democratic governance.
She said, “A president who celebrates the weakening of opposition is, by extension, celebrating the weakening of democracy itself.”
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