We Are Not Boko Haram Sponsors...APC

 

 

The war of words between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) continued unabated yesterday with the APC challenging the PDP to urgently make available to the Nigerian public any evidence of the opposition's alleged involvement in the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency “or forever shut up”.

The PDP had on Tuesday accused the APC of sponsoring the insurgency in the North-east to destabilise the Jonathan government “because the President is from a minority group.”

The APC in a statement issued yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said it had absolutely no hand in the insurgency and challenged anyone with contrary information to publish such.

The party described the latest accusation by the PDP as part of its plan to frame up the opposition and clamp down on its leaders ahead of the 2015general elections, adding that "It is trite that he who alleges must prove".

It said that in the absence of any evidence, Nigerians will have no choice but to conclude that the relentless finger-pointing by the PDP/Presidency was a ploy to divert attention from those who are actually behind this insurgency; those who see it as a trump card to 2015 and those who have been benefitting massively from the huge funds being allocated to security.

APC said the latest accusation by the PDP was being made within the framework of its plan to frame up the opposition and clamp down on its leaders ahead of the 2015 general elections, “having realized that it cannot possibly win the 2015 elections due to its appalling record of failure.”

The APC continued: ''Otherwise, how can the PDP-led federal government claim to have 'evidence of meetings held outside the shores of the country' to violently overthrow the government of President Jonathan and yet refuse to make such evidence public or arrest and try those involved? Or is it only the riotous spokesman of the ruling party who has the evidence?''

It also said the PDP was “suffering from selective amnesia by its warped interpretation of APC's statement, which pointed out to the ruling party that President Jonathan is not the first minority Nigerian leader, hence the people should be spared the boring reference to his ethnic origin.”

The APC said further: ''It is a reflection of PDP's diabolical mind that it only picked out the former minority leaders who are soldiers and left out the name of a former civilian leader. We mentioned three former leaders who are of minority ethnic stock: Tafawa Balewa (Sayewa), Yakubu Gowon (Angas) and Sani Abacha (Kanuri).

''Curiously but not unfathomably, the PDP dropped the name of Balewa and then extrapolated from the fact that we mentioned two former military leaders; that we are comparing a democratically-elected President with defunct military dictatorships. This can only be the product of a contorted mind. Good a thing, Nigerians understand better and will not be fooled by such a sickening stretch.''

The party reiterated its earlier statement that the only reason the insurgency in the North-east had persisted was because of the “incompetence, cluelessness, inferiority complex and collusion of the presidency.”

The APC said: “First, we heard from no other personality than President Jonathan himself that his cabinet is infested with Boko Haram. Then the PDP started pointing fingers at some imaginary opposition leaders as being behind the insurgency, and now the President has openly admitted his own incompetence by saying his administration has been treating terrorism with kid gloves.”

The PDP had alleged in a statement by its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, on Thursday that the APC had planned to use insurgency which ranks high in its Janjaweed ideology to overthrow a democratically elected government of President Jonathan but had been put under an effective check.

It alleged that the plan B of the APC was to use the same insurgency to unleash unprecedented mayhem if it loses the 2015 general election and forcefully take over power.