By Bayo Wahab

Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has defended President Bola Tinubu against those accusing him of institutionalising a one-party state in Nigeria.

The leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have accused the President of causing the crisis in opposition parties following the recent gale of defections that saw the party lose two governors and their cabinet members to the ruling All Progressives Congress.

In his recent Democracy Day speech, President Tinubu refuted the one-party allegation against his administration, saying he’s committed to a multi-party system.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, Bwala slammed the PDP and other parties he described as ‘mushroom’, saying their crises predate Tinubu’s government.

Bwala recalled that when the PDP was in power, Tinubu’s party was reduced to one state. According to him, rather than crying like a baby, Tinubu worked to rebuild the party.

Describing the PDP as a sinking ship with no leader, Bwala justified the defection of PDP members to the APC, saying the President could not have stopped them from coming to his party.

He said, “Nigeria is a multi-party state of one strong party and mushroom parties, but these parties became mushroom by their own doings. You know that the PDP governed Nigeria. You know that the PDP, at one time, was strong, and you also know that the PDP problem started even before the President got the ticket of the party. He couldn’t have been the originator of the problem in the PDP; as I speak today, you know that the PDP does not have a national leader. 

“The ship is sinking, as very profoundly described by the mister president. And he said, when the ship is sinking, and people are coming to my party, you can’t stop me from receiving them. But the point in which you say I’m happy to watch you in disarray is because he is a member of a political party. When President Bola Tinubu started his political trajectory, there was a time his party in the South-West was shrunk to only one. He sat down. He didn’t cry like a baby.

He explained that every politician, including those in opposition parties, has the fundamental right of association to dump their parties for another.

Vanguard News