‘It can never happen here’: Nigerian MP wondered how NDC lost 2020 elections

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin

• Bagbin says being in opposition does not mean fighting the government

• He says that Ghana is gradually moving to the stage of “participatory democracy”

• He recounted how the camaraderie between him and some NPP leaders in the fourth parliament shocked a Nigerian MP

“It can never happen in Nigeria” were the words of a Nigerian Member of Parliament to minority leader Alban Bagbin on the peaceful handover from former President Jerry John Rawlings to his successor John Agyekum Kufuor.

Bagbin said that said Nigerian lawmaker was shocked that a government in power could peacefully hand over power to an opposition party.

This experience, said Alban Bagbin, took place at the 2006 Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in Nigeria, where he and President Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes and Majority Leader Felix Owusu Agyapong were the representatives of the Ghana.

Recounting the meeting with the Nigerian MP during a meeting with the Joint Council of Ethiopian Political Parties (EPPJC), Bagbin said: “Are you from Rawlings party and I said yes. So you sat there and let the opposition party take over you? And I said we weren’t even seated; we were standing and they took it from us. It can never happen in Nigeria, but it has finally happened, ”he said.

Bagbin said the Nigerian lawmaker was also surprised by the sense of unity shown by Ghana’s representative at the conference.

“I moved with the then president and the majority leader. We were always together – sitting, talking and eating together – and one of the Nigerian MPs stopped me and said, “They say you are the opposing leader in Ghana and I said yes. Are you sure you are the opposing leader? And I said yes, I am the opposing leader ”, he recounted adding“ And he asked how can you sleep on the same bed with them and you said that you are an opposite leader? And I said you wanna see me fight them? It is not opposition. “The Nigerian MP told me this could never happen in Nigeria.

Alban Bagbin stressed that the fact that a party is in opposition does not mean that it must fight the government on any issue.

“Opposition is not about fighting whoever is in power because when it comes to change, nothing can stop it. This is one of the things that nothing can stop. It will happen when it does, ”Bagbin said.