Speaking on Tuesday on Channels TV, the PDP spokesman, Ini Ememobong, argued that the Tinubu administration is operating a system that prioritises party affiliation over equity.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the President Bola Tinubu-led government of running Nigeria along partisan lines, adding that governance under the All Progressives Congress (APC) favours members of the ruling party and sidelines others.
The party said such approach is responsible for the wave of defections by opposition politicians, particularly governors, who it claimed feel compelled to align with the APC to access federal benefits.
Speaking on Tuesday on Channels TV, the PDP spokesman, Ini Ememobong, argued that the Tinubu administration is operating a system that prioritises party affiliation over equity.
"When you (reference to President Bola Tinubu) win an election with less than 40 per cent of votes, you begin from point one to do politics and if you check all the governors who have defected, especially from the PDP, you will hear one language: ‘We are connecting to the centre so that we can take benefits from the centre back home’,” Ememobong said during the programme.
According to him, such statements by defecting governors reflect a governance structure that is not inclusive.
“What does that indicate? It indicates the inability of the Federal Government to run an egalitarian system. It shows nepotism where you are running a system based on which party you belong to.”
Ememobong further said the spate of defections underscores a perception that states controlled by opposition parties are excluded from the benefits of federal power.
He maintained that the situation suggests that “when you are in a different party, you are completely disconnected”, reinforcing claims that Nigeria is being run largely on APC lines rather than as a neutral federal system serving all citizens equally.
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that the Federal Government dismissed what it termed as 'false and misleading allegations' that it plans to target opposition figures through unlawful arrests, detention, or prosecution.
The government described such claims as “fabricated” and “baseless.”
In a press release issued on Tuesday and signed by Mohammed Idris, Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, the government said the claims were based on a non-existent programme allegedly tagged “ADP4VIP” (Arrest, Detain, Prosecute for Very Important Persons), which it described as a deliberate act of disinformation.
According to the statement, the forged document falsely alleged the creation of a multi-agency task force comprising the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), purportedly coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser, to “aggressively target prominent opposition figures without due process.”
The document also claimed, citing what it described as “multiple credible sources,” that the alleged task force was part of a planned “systematic weakening and neutralisation of opposition political activity,” particularly within the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Responding to the claims, the Federal Government stated emphatically that “there is no such programme as ‘ADP4VIP.’”