After denying on Thursday that Lawan Daura, director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), is a member of its party as claimed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) has admitted that Katsina-born security expert served on the presidential campaign committee of Muhammadu Buhari.
APC insists, though, that he is not a card-carrying member of the party.
After PDP alleged that Daura is a member of APC, newspaper cutout showing the name of the DSS DG on the list of the security directorate of president campaign organisation went viral. So also were a photo of the DG with other campaign committee members, as well as another with Buhari at the APC secretariat in Abuja, after he won the election.
But the APC said nothing short of producing Daura’s membership card or evidence of his membership registration will convince discerning Nigerians that he is indeed a member of the party as alleged by the PDP.
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“While it amounts to rabble-rousing and crass politicking for the PDP to have wrongly accused Mr Daura of being a member of the APC without a scintilla of credible evidence, the PDP has weakened its argument by using the pictures in which Mr Daura appeared with the President and the fact that he served in an election committee as evidence of his membership of the APC,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by Lai Mohammed, its spokesman.
“Possession of an APC membership card by Mr Daura or evidence of registration as a party member at his ward, local government or state will be the only conclusive evidence of his membership of the party. Until such an evidence is produced, we are sorry we have to tell the PDP to shut up.”
APC added: “The PDP was jittery because it was keenly aware of the kind of impunity perpetrated under the federal government it sired from 1999 to 2015.
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“PDP has forgotten the saying that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. When Mr Mike Okiro chaired the security committee of the PDP campaign in 2011, did that prevent him from being appointed the chair of the Police Service Commission, which is responsible for issues concerning the welfare, promotion and discipline of all police personnel, in 2013?
“When director-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, was appointed into the Jonathan election committee in 2015, did he resign his appointment as head of the agency or did he automatically become a card-carrying member of the PDP?
“Did retired Col Kayode Are not become the DG of the DSS despite being a close confidante of Obasanjo during his electioneering campaign to become president? Was this not under a PDP federal government?
“In any case, even in the world’s most advance democracy, United States, was a card-carrying Democrat, Mr Leon Panetta, not named as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by President Barack Obama in 2009? Here in Nigeria, the APC-led FG has not even gone that far, and the PDP is blabbing.
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“It is an irony that the APC-led federal government, which has continued to conduct the affairs of state with a strict adherence to the law, is the one being accused by the immoral, irresponsible and grossly hypocritical PDP. A party that should cover its face in shame for wasting all of 16 years in the life of our country, a party whose members should show penance by hunkering down has continued to assault the sensibilities of a decent nation. What a shame.”
6 comments
Bloody hypocrites. Suck it to them, Lai, Lai!
If this chap served as a campaign officer for PMB, he is ineligible for this role! There is no two ways about it, the man should step down, now!
Undoubtedly, PDP will take part of the blame or commendation for what goes wrong or right in our dear nation. (But) APC or anyone for that matter seeking to impose or sustain wrong behaviour will be unhelpful to the society.
DSS is so serious and professional an organization to be exposed to the vagaries of politics. From a distance, it would seem the root cause is that PMB has a limited circle of friends that he believes he can trust/rely on. Running the national enterprise requires much more than a limited circle of friends, something I am sure those managing the Presidency must be aware of, and are working on.
The DSS director had retired and was a member of APC’s campaign team. If I were strategizing for APC, I would steer clear of obvious, needless controversies and focus more on good governance, which the nation desperately needs. Asking PDP to provide the DSS director’s APC membership card or ‘shut up’ is like asking a rape victim to provide photographic evidence she was raped or ‘shut up’. Not providing photographic evidence if asked is not proof that she was not raped.
On a related note, writers of APC’s releases may do well to study the meaning of words like civility and politeness. As seen during APC’s campaign, very good points can certainly be made without being uncouth.
Well written. Concise and very intelligently submitted.
Very unintelligent contribution. Being a card carrying member of a party does not disqualify you from any job in the country. It’s only a record of crime that does. In develop democracies presidents appoint who ever they feel has the integrity to do the job, irrespective of the persons political ideology. Afterall the president of the country himself is a card carrying member of a party. Note that people of integrity will not compromise their job because you belong his party. Every human has a political lining, carrying a card or participating in the presidents campaign, doesn’t diminish his integrity.
Na wa oooooooo naija for u