APC to Bala Mohammed: Crisis is deeply engraved in PDP’s DNA — we’re not responsible for your woes

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has responded to the comment made by Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, blaming the ruling party for the crisis rocking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

On Wednesday, Mohammed reportedly said the APC created moles in states controlled by the PDP to cause divisions in the opposition party.

The PDP has been embroiled in crisis since the 2023 presidential election.

In April, the national working committee (NWC) of the party passed a vote of confidence in Umar Damagum, its acting national chairman.

A faction of the NWC is reportedly loyal to Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), who has been at loggerheads with Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, over the control of political structure in the state.

The PDP governors’ forum is also divided over the continued stay of Damagum as the party’s acting chairman.

Some of the governors are reportedly loyal to Damagum and want him to continue in the position, while those opposed to his continued stay are calling for the election of a new national chairman.

However, in a statement on Friday, Felix Morka, APC spokesperson, said the crisis is “endemic to the PDP,”  adding that “dysfunction is deeply engraved in its institutional DNA”.

Morka said the conflict in the PDP has nothing to do with the ruling party.

The APC spokesperson said the Bauchi governor may have forgotten that the PDP has a history of leadership imbroglio, noting that the present crisis in the opposition party was caused by the violation of zoning principles.

“The PDP has been and remains a cesspool of sleaze, crisis, and dysfunction. And that has got nothing to do with APC. Crisis is endemic to the PDP, and dysfunction is deeply engraved in its institutional DNA,” the statement reads.

“The PDP is the sole author of the intractable crisis that bedevils it. A party so grossly inept and incapable of governing its own internal affairs cannot possibly be trusted with the important task of governing Africa’s most populous country.

“Governor Mohammed is either a poor student of his party’s history or he is choosing, mischievously, to turn that history on its head.

“If not crisis, what else do we call the track record of leadership imbroglio, some of which predates the formation of APC?

“How else do we describe the chaotic rise and fall of the party’s National Chairmen in the likes of Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Vincent Ogbulafor, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Bamanga Tukur, Ali Modu Sherrif, Ahmed Makarfi, Uche Secondus, and Iyorcha Ayu?

“The latest episode of its crisis was, among other potent factors, a result of the PDP’s failure to adhere to the dictates of its constitution on zoning and power sharing for presidential candidate and national chairmanship positions between the north and south zones.

“In flagrant disregard of its constitution, the party decided to concentrate both positions in one zone and digging itself into a deeper crisis.

“Rather than point fingers at our great party for its endless woes, Governor Mohammed and his partners in crisis should eat the humble pie, and search within for solutions, or, better still, save us all the trouble and wind down altogether.”