The All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly criticized Daily Trust newspaper over its Monday editorial titled “APC Should Learn From History,” describing it as biased, misleading, and an attempt to malign the ruling party.
In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka (CON), the APC said the editorial was “a sordid display of editorial bias, daftness, and journalistic recklessness,” accusing the paper of spreading falsehoods about recent defections of opposition governors to the ruling party.
The newspaper had argued that the movement of state governors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC threatened Nigeria’s multiparty democracy and could lead to a one-party state.
However, Morka faulted the publication’s position, saying the defections were a legitimate exercise of the governors’ constitutional right to freedom of association.
“The paper failed miserably to explain how governors exercising their democratic liberty to choose among competing party alternatives threatens the country’s multiparty democracy,” the statement read.
The APC spokesperson further argued that there is no law preventing governors or elected officials from leaving the party under which they were elected, stressing that political association is a matter of free choice in any democracy.
He accused Daily Trust of double standards, saying defections to APC are often criticized while similar movements to opposition parties are portrayed as strengthening democracy.
“In the paper’s perspective, defections to APC are a threat to democracy, but defections from APC to opposition parties advance democracy. That double standard is glaring, invidious, and unacceptable,” Morka stated.
The party also dismissed claims that APC was plotting to establish a one-party state, describing such assertions as “wishful thinking” and “a reflection of the newspaper’s discomfort with APC’s growing dominance.”
Morka added that defections across political lines are not new in Nigeria, noting that several former APC and PDP leaders have switched parties in the past.
He maintained that the APC remains committed to the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, focused on improving the lives of Nigerians and strengthening national development.
“While editors have the freedom to form and express opinions, they also bear a responsibility to uphold responsible journalism in the public interest,” the statement concluded.