The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it will no longer condone
the deliberate, unwarranted and sustained vicious attacks on the person
and office of the President, the institutions of democracy and the unity
of the nation by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
PDP National Publicity, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Tuesday said the
PDP will no longer fold its hands while the desperate desire of the APC
for power unchains undisciplined impulses and actions posing a threat to
the very survival of democracy and the nation.
“The PDP has been watching carefully as the rank and file of the APC,
the governors, party leaders, presidential hopefuls and even sidekicks
run amok, competing in a heavily subjective castigation of President
Goodluck Jonathan with incendiary utterances, signposting its plans for
the dastardly when it loses in next year’s general elections.
“However, patriotism, the cardinal value of our great party, indeed, the
price of our custodianship of the mandate of over 160 million Nigerians
calls for vigilance, maturity and responsibility, hence our restraints
in the face of the naked lies and recklessness of the APC.
“We had thought that the silver hair of its top leaders would caution
the thoughtless delinquency of its youngsters. Unfortunately, the
recklessness of the old is in competition with the imprudence of the
young. What a shame the APC has turned!”, the statement said.
Our decent political campaigns focusing on the achievements of our party
at various levels of government should have served as a pointer to the
APC on the need to maintain political decorum and primacy of national
interest in the build-up to the forthcoming elections.
It is however unfortunate that the APC has refused to shed its penchant
for lies, deceit, propaganda, violence and blackmail as the center piece
of their agenda and message to Nigerians.
This disposition has led the APC to work in cahoots with the enemies of
Nigeria in an attempt to wreck our democracy and throw the nation into
chaos, hence the urgency of the need to warn that ‘enough is now
enough.”
We know that the aim of the APC is to set the stage for violence,
instill fear in Nigerians, discourage them from actively participating
in the electoral process thereby giving room for them to perpetrate all
manners of electoral malpractices (as evidenced by their cloning of the
Permanent Voters Cards) which is the only way they may hope to achieve
political power in Nigeria. This position is reinforced by their
constant threat to cause violent pandemonium when they lose the
elections.
Recall that today’s leaders of the APC had while contesting on different
platforms in 2011, issued such threats and went ahead to precipitate an
unprecedented electoral violence in which hundreds of innocent Nigerians
lost their lives, yet, the same election was adjudged by local and
international observers as the most credible in our recent history”
“One must then ask. Is violence and inflammatory statements the
manifesto of the APC? Is plotting against the oneness of the nation the
party’s article of faith? Is the never-ending attempt to ridicule the
highest office in the land a credo and an explanation of the alternative
the APC is flaunting?
Nigerians may recall that on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at Ilorin,
Kwara State, the APC leaders with their Governors, converging for their
usual revelry and self-indulging insults, delegated themselves and self
styled national leader to take stupidity to its apogee by asking
President Jonathan to resign.
“On November 19, APC leaders unfurled the much pinched wrap by declaring
that they would lead a rebellion against President Jonathan and install
a parallel government should APC lose next year’s presidential election.
In less than 24hours, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie
Oyegun on November 21, on a live NTA morning programme, admitted that
the APC knew what he called genuine leaders of Boko Haram and went
childish by accusing the President of deliberately allowing insurgents
take over the country”.
The PDP statement further expressed concern that the warning last week
by security experts that some opposition leaders may be planning to
intensify mayhem against Nigerians to justify their only campaign point,
which is insecurity, may not be unrelated to the increased spate of
bombings following the declaration of President Jonathan to contest the
2015 presidential election.
It also said that one of the deductions Nigerians would easily make from
the unfolding scenario is that the APC has neither an agenda nor an
issue to offer. “Nigerians have waited for too long for the APC’s
roadmap with convention after convention ( two in less than a month)
producing only humbug, claptrap and a regurgitation of worn- out,
anachronistic clichés.
“It is therefore clear that the APC is not preparing for elections,
rather actively planning to scheme itself into power in 2015 using
violent uprising as replacement for peaceful polls
“Nevertheless, we wish to assure all Nigerians that the PDP is not
willing to kowtow the APC in this road to infamy but will remain focused
in jealously protecting the interest of the nation while serving and
confidently campaigning and marketing its manifesto to Nigerians,” the
party said.