The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has counseled the All Progressives Congress (APC) to jettison all undemocratic and anti-people tendencies and imbibe the proper comportment as an opposition party in a democratic setting.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Thursday said with its new leadership, Nigerians expect a new behavior from the APC adding that the opposition party “must understand that it is not a rebel group and as such must throw over-board all actions and tendencies that portray it in that light.”
“Nigerians of all walks of life have continued to express worry over the character of the APC as an opposition party. The APC must realize that in a democracy, being an opposition party demands a great responsibility marked by constructive engagement and propagation of alternatives in the general interest.
“The APC must be advised to undertake a survey of how other opposition parties conduct themselves. Being an opposition party does not in any way confer a culture of irresponsibility; being an opposition party does not in anyway confer a license for promotion of violence; and being an opposition party does not confer use of blackmail and falsehood as means of achieving political control.
“Nigerians are no longer comfortable with an opposition driven by frustration and bitterness; characterized by a compulsive penchant for lies and deceit. They do not want an opposition that has no regard for the national interest but behave as if it has no stake in the Nigerian project. Nigerians want an opposition that will purposefully engage on issues with integrity and honesty and not with falsehood and deceit”, the party said.
The PDP noted that despite its change of leadership the APC has continued with its culture of lies, adding that “there is nothing in the last one week that shows that they are willing to jettison this despicable and unpatriotic stance.”
Insisting that the APC does not have the interest of the nation at heart, the PDP likened the actions of the APC to that of the Biblical woman who, out of frustration, pressed King Solomon to kill and divide the baby of an innocent mother for no just cause.
“We however wish to inform the APC that Nigerians will not succumb to their antics. Nigeria will never break up. We shall remain one strong indivisible nation under God where all thrive together in love, while on the other hand, the ever chameleonic APC will continue to merge, de-merge and lose its identity and composition,” the PDP said.