Oyo State Governor and APM presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, has warned the Federal Government against weakening opposition parties, saying there is no democracy in a one-party system.
Makinde spoke at the APM South-West Town Hall Meeting in Akure, Ondo State, on Thursday, where he unveiled his RESET agenda and urged the National Economic Council, NEC, to tax prosperity rather than poverty.
The APM presidential candidate said Nigeria’s founding leaders worked to establish federalism and multi-party democracy, and criticised what he described as efforts to prevent opposition parties from thriving.
“Our forefathers worked really hard to give us federalism, to give us multi-party democracy because I do not understand how a party in power, with 31 governors, with almost all the instruments of coercion, they are still afraid, they won’t allow opposition to thrive,” he said.
He cited Oyo State as an example of political openness, saying the space is open to all regardless of party affiliation.
“Go to Oyo state, whether you are opposition or you’re in the same party as the ruling party in the state, the space is completely open. That is what we demand from the federal government. Stop using the backdoor to cause crisis for the opposition parties, there is no democracy if it is a one-party system,” he said.
On the economy, Makinde said his RESET agenda would focus on productivity and creating more avenues to move Nigerians from poverty to prosperity, so that federal allocation would no longer be the main source of government income.
“The RESET agenda contemplates a Nigeria where, as they will say in Ibadan, federal allocation will be ‘Arakun bi aso gbagi’ (there is always room for more), it won’t be the main gig for us because once the economy becomes productive, there will be several avenues for us to take our people from poverty to prosperity,” he said.
He recalled making the same argument at a NEC meeting, urging leaders to support productivity.
“And I’ve always argued and I did before now when I had the opportunity to speak about it, in house at the National Economic Council meeting. I said, please, let the people be productive, when they are productive, they become prosperous. When they are prosperous, tax prosperity, don’t tax poverty. So, the RESET agenda is for us to tax prosperity not poverty,” he added.
