The tit-for-tat between Nigeria’s two biggest parties has continued to escalate, with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being beneficiaries of terrorism.
After the PDP National Working Committee’s meeting on Wednesday, Mr Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the party, told the media that APC was celebrating terrorism, which has been unleashed on the country by Boko Haram.
He said: “APC is the major beneficiary of terrorism in this country. We stand by our statement that APC celebrates terrorism.
“We didn’t say APC bombed Nyanya, Kano or Jos. What we said is that APC by their actions and utterances, promote violence.
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“If they do so, they cannot shy away from the fact that they fuelled violence.”
APC had accused the PDP-led government of insensitivity for holding a political rally in Kano on April 15 ─ a day after the Nyanya blast that killed 75 persons ─ and, as it later turned out, shortly after hundreds of girls were kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram.
But PDP is now accusing APC of being hypocritical for gong ahead with a rally in Ekiti a day after over 100 persons were killed in Jos explosions.
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Metuh said the APC had remained “hypocritical in the face of loss of lives caused by the insurgents”.
He said he was shocked that while the nation was still mourning the death of those who died in the Jos and Kano bombings, the APC was engaged in a political rally in Ekiti ─ whereas PDP called off its own rally.
This was more worrisome as the debris of the bombings was yet to be cleared, he said.
Metuh said that it was ironic that the APC which had lost its voice found it whenever there was a bomb blast in the country.
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“This gives us concern and we are bringing it to the consciousness of Nigerians for them to judge,” he stressed.
He claimed that the APC was engaging in propaganda and misinformation, asking Nigerians and the international community to be wary of the APC which, he said, had vowed to make the country ungovernable.
7 comments
When I got an elert at 3:07 am on Wednesday morning indicating that the PDP had called off their rally planned for Ekiti onThursday saying that they were doing so out of respect for the victims of the bomb blast in Jos, I knew that they were working towards this answer.
In my view, the Kano rally and the one in Ekiti are different. What the people said of the President in Kano is that he ought to have convened a security meeting as the nation’s head of state and commerder-in-chief to discuss the Bombing in Nyanya and plan how similar incidents can be averted. Instead he fled his desk to go dance and make merry. That is not what most people expected of Dr Jonathan who is the leader of the PDP. As for the Ekiti rally, neither Mr Bisi AKANDE nor Asiwaju Bola Tinibu has a cabinet or a security council to convene. They have no army under their charge nor a public hospital or health clinic in the vicinity to supervise and make sure they respond well.
In a nutshell, being President and Commander-Chief is a serious responsibility citizens have supposedly intrusted in the PDP. They must not toy with it. The Presisent and the APC Chairman are not the same in terms of their responsibility to the state This is a lesson the PDP must always bear in mind.
Well said, I think these politicians are playing with our collective mentality.What went wrong with their thinking faculties, ‘Alawada’ Republic indeed.
These two parties should just let Nigerians be. Why are they turning the nations woe and calamity into political campaign? Hundreds are have been killed by terrorists and all our leaders in both major parties could do is to take advantage if the situation to trade tackles. If you do not have anything to offer Nigerians leave but don’t you people forget you came into this world naked and you will go back naked. The good or bad you leave behind lives after you. Let Nigerians be.
Thank you shehu for a brilliant analysis. May God save Nigeria
Well said @ Shehu, nonetheless, it is still our responsibility as Nigerians to tackle this sect collectively whether they are in power with responsibility or not. We just have the two mob parties who have nothing good for the populace but for their selfish interest.
Mr Metus’ characterization of APC’s response in the current tragic circumstances, in my view smacks of the saying that ‘a drowning cleaves to straw’. His comments about APC gives me the impression, the spokesman for the PDP wants to make a political point out of the tragic circumstances the country has found itself. PDP is the ruling party and has the power of the president and Commander In Chief behind it; the man has to understand that the PDP is in power and APC is not. So, he should leave APC alone and face up to the responsibilities of securing the country in the face of the present challenges instead of playing petty politics.
Will someone tell Mr Metu that we know who has the oath of office to defend. It will do no party good to want to keep us distracted from the challenges of the nation with unproductive political debate. Wole Osewa