Akwa-Ibom: APC Now Confirms Party’s Involvement In Invasion, Tribunal Arm-twisting.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the APC has now confirmed its
culpability in a number of anti-democratic actions of government
agencies lately, particularly the mindless invasion of Akwa-Ibom State
government house and interferences in the activities of that state’s
election tribunal.

The PDP said in bringing out himself, through a press conference on
Monday to attempt to explain the unlawful actions of the DSS, the APC
spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, only succeeded in confirming that his
party and the Federal Government, under President Muhammadu Buhari, are
behind the invasion and the hounding of election officials to compromise
the Akwa-Ibom governorship election tribunal and feloniously take over
the state.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on
Monday said it has noted the weak attempt by the APC to defend the
indefensible, stating that only “a desperate attempt at political
shoplifting would drive the APC to engage in a miscarried effort to
cover its culpability, by seeking to defend the condemnable actions of
the DSS, a security and statutory apolitical organization, which has its
internal system of public communication.”

“By now Nigerians have become too familiar with the macabre dance by the
APC spokesman, who has distinguished himself as a ‘renowned liar’; a
shameless veteran in the ignoble art of deception.

“Our take is that the truth may be hidden for sometime, but it has a way
of expressing itself to shame the guilty. We ask, what other reasons,
other than a desperate cover up, would push a spokesman of a political
party to stand in the gap to explain away the actions of the DSS when
the security organization, has its own spokesperson and existing system
of public communication?

“Is this not a confirmation of the fact that the DSS, under the direct
command of an APC member, Alhaji Lawal Kaura, as Director General has
since been politically annexed and working in cahoot with the leadership
of the APC in its illegal operations in Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states?

“Perhaps, lacking in prowess to conjure believable fabrications to
justify its dastardly actions, the DSS had to employ the services of APC
master liar, who shamefully embark on excursions of falsehood.

“In fact, the contradictions in the claims in Alhaji Mohammed’s press
conference betray it all. In trying to explain the invasion of the
Akwa-Ibom state government house on behalf of the DSS, the APC chief
propagandist controverted himself when he said, “we in the APC are not
privy to the reasons for the DSS' search of the Akwa Ibom Government
House. However, we have no doubt that the security agency acted within
its area of competence and authority’.

“We ask, if the DSS acted outside the knowledge of the APC as Lai
Mohammed claimed, how would he validate his postulation that the agency
acted within its area of competence and authority?

“Severally in the past, we have exposed the APC spokesman in terms of
lying to deceive the nation. Recall that in May this year, Lai Mohammed
nearly scuttled the transition programme when he issued a false
statement alleging that the APC team was being frustrated, only for the
head of the APC’s Transition Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Joda to announce
that there was nothing of such.

“This is the same APC National Publicity Secretary, who in June 2014
issued a statement alleging that a plane carrying Kano state Governor
Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend an APC rally in Ekiti was denied landing
permission in Akure, only for Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs,
Baba Dantiye to announce that his boss was at another event in Kano and
had no plans to travel to Ekiti state.

“Our response to Lai Mohammed is that at his age, he should learn to be
truthful, honest and desist from fabricating lies that could be
injurious to democracy and peaceful co-existence in the country,
especially as no amount of falsehood, blackmail, propaganda, threats and
procured testimonies will help his party in its illegal quest to
takeover Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states.

“While we recall that this is the same method deployed in the past by
these same characters to rob us of our victory in some southwest states,
we stand by our position in insisting on the sanctity of the judicial
processes and caution that we will not accept any move by any person
whatsoever to rob us of our electoral victory in states where the people
freely gave us their mandates.


Signed:

Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary