ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. (Report by Leon Usigbe And Jacob Segun Olatunji) — The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of luring its members with phantom promises to get them to defect, as the party bids to impose a one-party system on the country.
Addressing a press conference at its national secretariat, in Abuja, on Tuesday, the national publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, said rather than focus on the mandate it had been given, the APC was more interested in stifling opposition.
He noted that the nation was facing a serious threat saying, “We are at the verge of a quick slide into dictatorship and the personal freedom we all enjoy today is about to be obliterated.”
Recalling that the PDP had always maintained that APC had no clear agenda on how to govern the country, Metuh added: “Rather than concentrate on how to manage the mandate they now hold, they have resorted to seeking ways to stifle opposition and impose a one-party system and complete totalitarian rule in our country.
“Reports reaching the PDP leadership from across the country show that the APC has been desperately seeking ways to destabilise our ranks and weaken our formations by approaching some senior members of our National Executive Committee (NEC) with phantom promises and threats, ostensibly to use them to inject crisis in our fold and pave way for our elected members to cross over to APC.
“Furthermore, the PDP has it on good authority that part of this agenda of the APC is to intimidate and harass our members, especially officials who served under our administration.
“However, we wish to state in very unequivocal terms that the PDP leadership, under the chairmanship of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, will not condone any witch-hunt on any of our elected and appointed officers, including state governors, ministers, legislators and others who served with clean records as such will be met with stiff resistance within the ambits of the principles of democracy.
“We will do everything humanly possible within the rules to defend democratic principles and ethics, which we have successfully nourished in the past 16 years. On this note we charge our members to be vigilant and continue to work with our leaders at all levels.
“The PDP strongly believe that our democratic journey got this far because of the open space our administration gave to all political players, including the APC and we will not, even in the role of opposition watch our nation slide into dictatorship.
“Because we are convinced that the APC lacks what it takes to sustain our democracy, the PDP is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that it returned to power in the next four years to save the nation’s democracy and re-channel our vision of a greater Nigeria.”
On the political crisis brewing in Ekiti State and the threat on Igbos, in Lagos, by Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, the party spokesman observed that Ekiti example was “a foretaste of the destabilising mission of the APC,” which it said was causing avoidable political tension in the states.
Wondering why Ekiti State lawmakers were bent on impeaching Governor Ayo Fayose, with just a few weeks to the end of their tenure, he revealed that it was President Goodluck Jonathan and the national leadership of the PDP that stopped the attempt to impeach APC’s Governor Tanko al-Makura of Nasarawa State.
He, therefore, observed that the PDP would expect the APC leadership to intervene and forestall a breakdown of law and order in Ekiti State.
He said: “The flimsy reasons being touted by the out-going lawmakers in Ekiti State, who have since lost their electoral value, is part of the APC agenda to seize power in the state through the back door.
“Also, the unfortunate outburst and death threats by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, a supposedly apolitical royal father against non indigenes should they vote for the PDP candidate, is clearly part of the plot by the APC to use all means within its reach to intimidate and cow Nigerians to submission.
“The onus is on the Oba to prove to Nigerians, especially Lagosians that his actions did not fall short of expectation of the royal institution through which his ancestors fostered justice, unity and harmonious living, making Lagos the most cosmopolitan city in Africa.
“By dragging a royal father into a partisan contest, the APC has further exposed its bigger heinous agenda to destroy our revered traditional institutions, apparently to compromise and bring them under its control.”
The PDP spokesman, who observed that the Oba of Lagos deliberately imported ethnicity and tribalism into the Lagos governorship election, assured that most Yorubas were also solidly behind the party’s candidate.
He noted that what was at stake, on Saturday, was not ethnicity and tribe but the candidates that could foster unity and harmonious living in Lagos state.
“In view of the foregoing therefore, Nigerians should see Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections as very important vehicle to checkmate the selfish agenda of the APC against our nation,” he stated.
