The Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has sympathised with President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) over their inability to accept, with
equanimity, constructive criticisms of their administration.
In a statement on
Saturday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said it was
unfortunate that the APC and its leaders, who gleefully and unjustifiably
poured invectives on former President Goodluck Jonathan in the guise of playing
the role of an opposition party, would now not want to condone criticisms.
“Unlike the APC that
denigrated the office and person of former President Jonathan by wrongly depicting
him as ‘clueless and incompetent’, the PDP remains the most decent, mature and
constructive opposition party in our democracy and we have evidenced great
respect for the person and exalted office of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“During the Goodluck
Jonathan presidency, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, while in the saddle as interim
Deputy National Secretary of the APC, in a post on his twitter page, described
President Jonathan as ‘lazy, docile, incompetent, clueless, hopeless and
useless leader.’ Other APC leaders made raining abuses on Jonathan a past
time.
“The PDP is a very
responsible opposition party; our leaders are mature; and we have demonstrated
so in our critique of the President’s responses during the maiden Presidential
Media Chat. We have reviewed President Buhari’s performance and concluded that
it was uninspiring
“The entire world
listened to President Buhari during the chat and went away with different
impressions. We did and came up with the theme of our initial reaction
that portrayed him very appropriately as a tyrant. And for purpose of
clarity, a tyrant is a ruler who has complete power over a country and who uses
the power in a cruel and unfair way, which was why we recommended the
suspension of the operation of the constitution so he can rule for the next
four years as a maximum ruler.
“In its reaction, his
party National Chairman, John Oyegun magisterially and dictatorially warned
that ‘we (APC) may not condone such anymore.’ Our position in the PDP is
that we are in trouble as a nation. All we hear from the APC regarding
our freedom is ‘we won’t tolerate’, ‘we won’t condone.’ Are these words
used by democrats or tyrants?
“So, the PDP too is
being warned and coerced on what to say as opposition party. The PDP must
be commended for the civil, responsible, mature, issue-based opposition it has
played. The nation knows how the APC rained insults on former President
Jonathan and that the PDP, during that time, never used words like ‘it would
not condone…’
“Some have even
criticised the PDP style of opposition as being too civil considering the
tyranny we are facing. That is why Chief John Oyegun could term a
dictionary word-‘tyrant’- as insulting. Nigerians do not need the PDP or anyone
else to make them decide if President Buhari’s APC government fits the
definition of a tyrant.
“The real trait of the
President was unraveled during the media chat. He has repeatedly shown
his scorn for the Legislature, an independent arm of government while
sanctioning security agencies’ disrespect for court orders and the impunity of
continuous incarceration of people who have been granted bails by the courts.
“Also from his
responses, the President has even pronounced a guilty verdict on Col Sambo
Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu of Radio Biafra even before the hearings by the
courts. Sadly, even the international community has noted this brazen scorn and
disdain for the independence of the judiciary.
“Furthermore, how do we
describe a President who openly denigrated an entire race as he did in the
media chat when he suggested that the Igbos were insatiable with the
appointments his government has so far given to them? Indeed, the timing and
the tenor of the President’s comment, given the security and political
situation in the land, remain worrisome, especially at a time a nerve-soothing
statement from the father of the nation could have reassured the agitators of
the need for peace and unity in the nation.
“Besides, it is sad and
embarrassing that President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade has now been reduced
to a war between the APC and the PDP as declared by the Office of his
spokespersons. Since they have confirmed that this is what the
anti-corruption crusade is all about, the APC is obviously seeking to destroy
the PDP so that it can push through Buhari’s second tenure in 2019 without
opposition from the PDP.
“This has also confirmed
our concern that this is the reason the Federal Government is persecuting, and
not prosecuting, Col. Sambo Dasuki. The APC and its leaders fear that
Dasuki, given his vast political and security network, may be harbouring a
presidential ambition, more so that the PDP has zoned its presidential ticket
to the north.
“The PDP is conversant
with the sinister plan by the APC-led Federal Government to completely decimate
our party by raking up all manner of allegations of corruption against the
Goodluck Jonathan administration and leaders of the PDP with a view to taking
them to court on orchestrated charges.
“Finally we are aware
that President Buhari has directed security agencies to be more vicious in
dealing with our members and has continued to subtly coerce the Judiciary to
convict those being charged to court. But what gives us joy is that
President Buhari is not God and we will not worship him.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
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