Nigeria’s opposition party Action Congress (AC) on Saturday held a congress to elect party officials and debate strategy ahead of general elections in 2011.
Former vice president Atiku Abubukar condemned the poor performance of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“The PDP should be held responsible for whatever is happening to Nigeria,” Abubakar told a gathering of party supporters at the ceremony in Lagos.
He said it was unfortunate that President Umaru Yar’Adua’s promise to turn the economy around within months of coming to power in April 2007 had failed to materialise.
He urged all opposition parties to come together to oust the PDP in 2011.
The party also called for the implementation of a report of a government-appointed electoral reforms committee, saying if faithfully implemented the report would ensure “a credible electoral process in the country.”
Oil-rich Nigeria of 140 million people is due to hold general elections in 2011.
The AC, launched in September 2006, is among around 50 political parties registered by the electoral agency INEC, but it lost the 2007 presidential poll to the ruling party PDP, in a vote widely regarded as falling short of international standards.