PDP shuts down social media platforms

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shut down its social media platforms, saying some of them have been hijacked. ‎

The PDP, through its verified Twitter handle @PdpNigeria, had said on Sunday that it was taking responsibility for the country’s low points during the party’s 16-year reign.

But Olisa Metuh, PDP spokesman on Monday said the statement did not represent the position of the party, adding that its Twitter account was hacked.

“The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) observed that in the course of the 2015 campaigns, personal positions and opinions of our party members were generally reported in many instances by the media as official positions of the PDP,” he said.

“We have also noted that some of our new media handles, our Facebook and Twitter accounts, have been hacked, resulting in series of unauthorized releases, with the latest being Sunday’s post quoting our party as accepting responsibility for failure in the last 16 years; a statement which could not have come from the PDP that has a robust record of achievements in all sectors of our national life within the period.

“However, now that the campaigns are over, we wish to notify the general public, especially the media, that henceforth only statements, utterances and positions of the national chairman and the national publicity secretary or any other national officer of the party authorized by the national working committee shall be regarded and reported as the official position of our great party in line with the relevant provisions of the PDP constitution.

“For purposes of clarity, this directive does not in anyway affect the inalienable constitutionally guaranteed rights of our members as free citizens to hold and air opinions but such personal opinion must not in anyway be rendered or reported as the official position of the PDP.

“Consequently, media houses, particularly the electronic media and the civil society, should note that only authorized persons should be invited to speak or stand in for the PDP for interviews, debates, talk shows or any other media appearance whatsoever.

“Furthermore, to halt the embarrassing trend in our social media handles, the party has decided to decommission our official Twitter and Facebook accounts for now, to pave way for proper overhauling of the system.

“The foregoing is pursuant to our determination to rebuild and re-position our great party, instill discipline in our fold, check unnecessary divergences and put the PDP on a strong footing to regain power in 2019.”

PDP added that in the new spirit of rebuilding and re-positioning, the national leadership charges all aggrieved members to channel their grievances through the appropriate organs of the PDP for redress using the internal conflict resolution mechanisms that abound in our party.

“Finally, we urge the media to always crosscheck with the relevant officials of our party on official matters before going to press,” it added.