Ruling parties need strong opposition – Odigie-Oyegun

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on Wednesday said ruling parties require strong opposition to keep their on their toes for the benefit of the people.

Odigie-Oyegun said this while receiving in audience the former President of Niger Republic, Alhaji Mamman Usman, who led a delegation to pay him a courtesy visit at the APC party’s national headquarters, in Abuja to congratulate him over the 2015 election victory.

The APC chairman, who commended the former Nigerien leader for the visit, said democracy is “not just about periodic conduct of elections but a commitment to a cause of giving a choice to the people in a free and fair manner.”

He said despite the efforts of several Nigerian opposition parties to form coalitions and alliances in the past, they were always frustrated by the political party in power.

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According to him, the separate political parties that merged to form the APC were not given a chance to survive let alone win the elections.

He said the APC survived several attempts to scuttle its formation and operations until the elections.

Odigie-Oyegun noted that the situation got so bad that the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party resorted to smear campaigns and intimidation in a bid to frustrate its Presidential candidate and leaders.

Earlier, the ex-Nigerien president said his visit to the party secretariat was to, among other things, congratulate the party leaders on their victory in the 2015 elections.

He said he was part of election observer missions to Nigeria in 1999 and 2011, adding that he was not privileged to be part of the 2015 elections.

Usman, however, said, he monitored the elections until the results were announced.

He explained that Nigeria’s neighbours always follow Nigeria’s elections with a lot of apprehension because the stability or otherwise of Nigeria would a ripple effect not only for the West African sub-region but also the entire continent.