The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has described members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as known liars.
NewsWatch Nigeria reports that Wike accused the opposition parties of misleading Nigerians with claims of political reform and democratic renewal.
The former Rivers State governor spoke on Monday during his monthly media briefing in Abuja.
Wike criticised opposition parties over what he described as internal contradictions and lack of credibility in their recently concluded primaries.
He specifically mentioned the ADC and NDC, accusing them of claiming moral superiority while battling internal disputes.
According to him, parties that present themselves as new and untainted have failed to conduct credible internal elections without controversy.
Wike said recent disputes in opposition parties showed that the same problems they accuse the ruling party of also exist within their own structures.
The Minister said, “They said they are the saviour that will come. What has happened now?
“NDC said we are the new face of democracy. ADC said this kind of party is a party that hasn’t been polluted one day, is a party that God just brought from the womb.
“What has happened? So dirty. See what has happened in the NDC. As small as they are, they cannot do a primary without protest.”
‘Nigerians Now Know You’re Liars’
The minister also referred to complaints raised during the ADC presidential primary, where some aspirants rejected the process.
He asked, “Look at ADC, who said it’s a coalition to take over from APC to stop the distortion of democracy. What has happened?
“While the congress was going on, two presidential aspirants said, ‘we cannot believe that you will perpetrate on this. We have been accusing this party of doing this. Now see what we are doing, see what we have done.’
“So that now tells you, who is deceiving who? Who is coming to Nigeria to tell them lie ‘that we are the new born baby, the messiahs of the time of Nigeria. This is what we want to do.’
“Nigerians have now known you’re all liars. They can’t be using us. They can’t be deceiving us.”
Wike said the opposition parties had failed to prove that they were better than the older political parties.
“PDP is a dead party, according to you. You’ve said here APC is rotten. They cannot help Nigerian democracy. Just ordinary congress. You have three presidential aspirants, two said ‘this is rubbish, this is criminality to the highest order. Why are we complaining against another party.
“My assessment is that I prefer, from what I’ve seen, the old parties that are running are those that have even tested this environment and have known what Nigerian culture is all about,” Wike added.
