Onu: Why Ruling Parties Emasculate Opposition, Institutions

Dele Ogbodo in Abuja

The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said ruling political parties in Africa stop at nothing to emasculate opposition parties and institutions, describing them as being hostile to fundamental human rights.

The Minister, who spoke at the fourth convocation lecture of the Nigerian Turkish Nile University in Abuja at the weekend with the theme: “The effect of the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) on the promotion of world peace,” said African leaders will stop at nothing to strangulate the opposition.

He said: “This is so even in multi-party democracy where there are many political parties, the opposition political parties are so weakened that one political party, the governing party, is so dominant as to produce virtually all the leaders in the country

“In other to achieve this, they move very quickly to weaken and emasculate all other institutions of state. With weak institutions they find it easier to deny their citizens the protection of their fundamental human rights.

“They then manipulate elections such that votes no longer count and the voters no longer matter as citizens can no longer exercise their basic right to select who governs them.”

Further details later