The Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, yesterday accused the presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progressive Change, CPC, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, of inciting the public and
seeking the blood of innocent Nigerians to attain his political desire.
The party also warned the
former Head of State not to plunge the nation into unnecessary war.
The Presidency also yesterday
said that the prediction by Buhari of blood-shed in 2015 was sad and
unfortunate.
A statement by the Special
Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that
the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan was not Boko Haram as
claimed by Buhari
PDP was reacting to statement
credited to Buhari in which he was quoted to have called for a bloody revolution
if the 2015 general election was rigged.
The PDP National Publicity
Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, while addressing a press conference yesterday in
Abuja stressed that it was Buhari’s failed political desire to rule the nation
that was pushing him to take such an unpatriotic stand.
Describing the statement as
relishing in “funeral train”, the ruling party noted that Buhari was yet to
recover from the loss he suffered before and during the 2011 presidential
election.
The party said: “While PDP
cherishes freedom of speech, assembly and association as the custodian of
Nigeria’s democracy, we at the same time know that such freedom goes with
im-mense responsibilities.
“We condemn in no uncertain
terms this shameful call for the spill of blood of innocent Nigerians to
acquire political power.
“We appreciate Buhari’s
frustration and antagonism towards the PDP. He has lost three times at the
polls. But is Buhari really a democrat? Why is the blood of innocent Nigerians
the only thing sufficient to quench his thirst for power?
“The utterances of Buhari, a former
military Head of State is truly undemocratic, unpatriotic and unstatesmanly.”
The party blamed the crises and
killings which followed the last general election to Buhari’s “reck-less and
unguarded statements”, saying that “the 22-man panel of enquiry led by Sheikh
Ahmed Lemu confirmed that Buhari’s provocative remarks played a significant
role in the bloody violence that led to the death of at least 200 people,
gruesomely injuring thousands and the displacement of more than 40,000 people.
“The panel categorically stated
that Buhari’s pre-election utterances were misconstrued by his supporters to
engage in the condemnable mayhem that greeted the aftermath of the presidential
election. “Rather than apologise to Nigerians for the violence, Buhari is again
engaged in another build up of massive bloodletting and destruction.”
The PDP noted that Nigerians
should be worried over the ex-Head of State’s quest for power by all means,
pointing out that “Buhari is suffering from combat withdrawal syndrome.”
“We, therefore, urge the
Federal Government to allow him to lead the ECOWAS military contingent to Mali
or Guinea Bissau to enable him an opportunity to exorcise the bloodletting
demons apparently haunt-ing him,” the PDP added.
On the accusation of PDP
lacking in transparency and social justice, the ruling party challenged Buhari
to prove to Nigerians that only PDP members were corrupt.
“Before he does that, we want
to remind him that the various sector probes going on at the National Assembly,
most of which were initiated by PDP leg-islators, are enough testi-monies that
the PDP government will not tolerate inefficiencies and waste in government
operations.
“Maybe it is high time Buhari
confessed to Nigeria the truth about the miss-ing 28 suitcases,” it added.
PDP explained that as a country
ruled by military governments for more than half of its 50 years as a nation,
political reforms need not be revolutionary, cit-ing advanced democracies which
were still evolving political reforms.
The PDP stated that: “Political
reform is a journey, not a destination. Even the richest and most
technologically advanced countries in the world continue to evolve and make
progress in political reforms.
“Nigeria, the second-largest
economy in the Af-rican continent, is indeed making a decisive stride towards
political, economic and legal reforms if only the likes of Buhari will al-low
us be.
“Unfortunately, bad losers like
Buhari are deter-mined to truncate the journey in this right direction by
advocating violence and civil unrest. “The April 16, 2011 presidential
election, which Buhari is still agonising over, was, according to official
results from the INEC, won by the PDP’s candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan,
with 57 per cent of the vote.
“All international and domestic
observers hailed the presidential election as credible. The Africa Union, the
ECOWAS, the Euro-pean Union, the European Parliament, the U.S. Nation-al
Democratic Institute, the U.S. International Republican Institute and the
Commonwealth Secretariat ob-server teams acknowledged the election as
transparent and credible.
“For once, the world agreed
that Nigeria had taken a credible step towards political stability.
“Buhari should stop see-ing PDP
as the evil genius behind his failure. He was the architect of his own misfortune,
as he and his