The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has berated President Goodluck Jonathan for saying that the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) is the only truly democratic party and describing other political parties as one-man shows.
''Saying the PDP is the only truly democratic party and that other parties are one-man shows is a cruel irony, coming shortly after this same President brushed aside the constitution of his party and single-handedly installed the Governor of his state,'' the ACN said in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos yesterday.
''We see the comments attributed to the President, which we have waited for him to deny to no avail, as one of the many gaffes which have come to define the Jonathan Presidency, rather than a statement to be taken seriously,'' the party said.
ACN advised the President to always show deep introspection in his public comments, because he was not just presiding over any country, but one with the largest concentration of black people on earth, which bestows a lot of responsibility on him.
''If the President is not accusing Lagosians and their teenage children of consuming most of the 'subsidized' fuel in the country, he is lending his weight to anti-democratic tendencies by tacitly supporting the stoning of Governors who fail to perform in office. These divisive and anti-democratic tendencies are not the attributes of a leader who wants to be great,'' the party said.
It said the comments attributed to President Jonathan, in which he disparaged other political parties, may have been tolerable if made by the chairman of his party or any other PDP official.