PDP: APC also held mega rally after Jos blasts

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has fired back at the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the opposition party of being hypocritical with its criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan for declaring for second term a day after the Yobe blasts.

PDP said APC also held a “mega rally” in Ekiti (pictured) after the May 2014 blasts in Jos which claimed over a hundred lives.

The party was reacting to APC criticism of the president’s declaration for a second term in office a day after 58 students were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Potiskum, Yobe state as insensitive and callous.

APC also said that the president was dancing on the graves of the students and victims of terrorism.

But speaking on Thursday through Olisa Metuh, its national publicity secretary, PDP noted APC in its “characteristic manner, instead of accepting the successes already acknowledged by Nigerians, went into their usual shadowboxing and mischievous propaganda in a failed attempt to score a cheap political point”.

“Such an epithet on the APC defied the logic of an alternative while exposing it as hypocritical and opportunistic,” it said.

It therefore called for objectivity and forthrightness from the political class, especially the opposition, as the campaigns for the 2015 general election begin in earnest.

PDP berated APC for allegedly seeking to gain political capital from the insecurity challenges in the nation.

“Nigerians, by their massive support on Tuesday, showed that they know the truth and are solidly behind their president,” it said.

“Notwithstanding that he defied the expectations of the terrorists and their sponsors to go ahead with the declaration, a day after the Potiskum bombing, the president and the PDP stand unyieldingly by the mourning families, as his disposition, speech and  mobilising of over 100,000 Nigerians in prayers at the event clearly showed.

“For the APC to cry wolf over this declaration, which was scheduled almost a month before the bombing, means the opposition party is either lacking in institutional memory or suffering from a deliberate amnesia.

“Nigerians may recall that on May 20, 2014, there was a twin bomb blasts in the city of Jos, killing 118 people and wounding at least 56 others. However, this tragedy on the nation did not restrain the APC from holding its so called ‘Mega Rally’ in Ekiti the very next day, May 21 in promotion of the gubernatorial campaigns of the then Governor Kayode Fayemi.

“The entire top hierarchy of the APC, its national leaders, governors and the Interim National Executive were in attendance. At the rally, the APC scarcely observed a minute silence in honour of fellow Nigerians mowed down in cold blood before charging the atmosphere with usual insults and loathing acts of insensitivity, speaker, after speaker.

PDP recalled also that while Nigerians and the international community applauded President Jonathan for proscribing the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, the APC released a statement on June 10, 2013, alleging that such an act was “unconstitutional”.

“This is the APC pretending away from the heinous crimes of the same terrorist organisation it once sought protection for,” the party continued.

“On the other hand, it is on the record that President Jonathan and the PDP cancelled all scheduled activities on June 3, 2012 when the Dana Air crashed and declared a week national mourning. Unfortunately, the APC desecrated this as all its leaders converged on Kano the same week to celebrate a turbaning event, meaning that 163 souls that perished as a result of that crash were not important to the party.

“All over the world, it is known that terrorists plan their evil activities to manipulate political events and policies and that the more you allow them space, the more dastardly and frequent they turn. If terrorists must be denied the publicity they crave so much for, it becomes the responsibility of all patriots in moments like this to work hard to prevent them from hijacking events or taking control of our destiny. Clearly, the APC lacks the political capacity to understand this matter of statecraft.

“No doubt, it is easy to deduce that the APC was stunned by the mammoth crowd that turned out for the event and indeed unsettled by the unity existing in the PDP even in the wake of congresses for the election of candidates participating in 2015 general elections. Too bad. Nothing can APC do about this! In spite, we wish to restate our position on issue-based campaigns while challenging the APC once more to match our pace with positive ideas.

“President Goodluck Jonathan remains the candidate to beat as he enjoys a very strong bond with the people of Nigeria in all the nooks and crannies. This is as a result of his exceptional performance in last three and half years notwithstanding the spirited efforts by the opposition to distract, detract and frustrate his administration.

“Indeed, no amount of propaganda and negative campaign can take away the visible massive infrastructural developments, the freedom Nigerians now enjoy, the re-positioning of the manufacturing sector, the thriving of the private sector in all areas of the economy, the unprecedented but silent revolution in power, agriculture, education, communication, transport and health sectors, all for which our dear nation now ranks as the largest and fastest-growing economy in Africa.”