Condemnation Trails Violence At APC Ward Congress

Residents in Port Harcourt have condemned the violence that trailed the All Progressives Congress ward congress in Rivers State.
A resident, Mr. John Oko, who spoke with The Tide in Port Harcourt on Monday expressed regrets that there was no internal democracy within political parties across the nation.
He stated that democracy was truncated when the will of the people was trampled upon.
Mr. Oko noted that the destruction of APC secretariat in Port Harcourt and the violence that ensued in the wake of the party’s ward congress had left nobody in doubt that democracy was still a farcry in Nigeria.
The Port Harcourt resident noted that the imposition of candidate on the people had produced unsavoury results and made our democracy a laughing stock of civilized countries.
He stated that the APC was yet to make the change it had touted as its slogan.
Mr. Oko remarked that the only way to achieve better governance was the conduct of free and fair elections propelled by internal democracy.
He noted that last Saturday’s APC ward congress had left much to be desired and explained that the motivation for positive change must be engineered by the party which claimed to bring a change.
He said that imposition of candidates on bigwigs instead of the will of the people, had produced visionless mediocres and warned that unless there was a paradigm shift from the ugly status quo, the result would remain the same.
Mr. Oko urged all to join hands to make our democracy work in the interest of posterity.
Also speaking, another Port Harcourt resident, Mr. Johnny Samuel said that the election was majorly peaceful but advised that youths be given much roles to play in order to put our democracy on a sound footing.
Also speaking, Mr. Endurance Akpelu, a Port Harcourt based lawyer, expressed regrets on the lack of internal democracies among political parties.
Mr. Akpelu said that the lack of unity and cohesion was demonstrated in the violence ridden APC ward congress.
He noted that the ruling party had demonstrated ineptitude since it came to power and had to be replaced by a more enterprising party.

Ekene Okoh