From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, has appealed to the supporters of different presidential aspirants on the party’s platform against hate speech and campaign of calumny capable of demarketing the eventual candidate of the party.
Urging the party members to avoid hate speeches and embrace issue-based campaigns instead of attacks, Nabena said: “It’s too early to be unnecessarily emotive.”
While commenting on the crossfire between some support groups, the APC chieftain warned that whatever negative comments made against any aspirant will later be used as a demonisation weapon by the opposition parties.
The Bayelsa-born party chieftain further noted that since all those aspiring to fly the ticket of APC are all from the same political party, supporters should see themselves as one and play up their advantages.
According to the statement he issued in Abuja on Monday; “whoever emerges as the party presidential candidate during the primary will need to extend an olive branch to others because the party does not need a divided house if it must win an election.”
He expressed confidence that the party will provide a level playing ground to all aspirants during the primary and support whoever emerges as candidate of the party.
“My appeal is for all our members to embrace issues-based campaigns strategies in selling whoever they feel should succeed our dear President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. There is no need to be unnecessarily emotive about it.
“I believe that all our presidential aspirants are well qualified to pick the ticket. It is a fact that participatory democracy gives room for choices even within the same political party as it is a practice in the APC. We should therefore engage constructively without demonising ourselves bearing in mind that whatever we say against each other now will later be capitalized on by other political parties during the general elections,” he appealed.
Nabena equally tasked APC members already attacking aspirants against their principals to embrace civility. It is also important not to distract both the party and some of our aspirants who are still holding one position of responsibility or the other.
“We should not deny Nigerians the dividends of democracy we promised by unnecessarily heating up the polity,” Nabena appealed.