PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the alleged attacks by the All Progressives Congress on certain individuals and institutions of government using a section of the media.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Sunday, alleged that the APC had been using resources meant for the development of their states to castigate, discredit and ridicule PDP officials and other well-meaning individuals in the country.
In response, the APC dismissed PDP’s claims saying the ruling party was a party of drowning politicians clutching at straws.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Sunday, alleged that the APC had been using resources meant for the development of their states to castigate, discredit and ridicule PDP officials and other well-meaning individuals in the country.
In response, the APC dismissed PDP’s claims saying the ruling party was a party of drowning politicians clutching at straws.
Metuh said instead of coming out with tangible explanations that would delink it from the negative things for which it had been known, the opposition party had resorted to what he described as “yet another diversionary tactics of propaganda, blackmail and falsehood, this time, using paid consultants masquerading as newspaper columnists to attack and insult individuals including the person of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We however wish to restate that the PDP is not perturbed by these attacks and they cannot deter us from exposing the APC. We completely stand by our position that the APC is a party of unpatriotic persons whose agenda is to destroy our democracy and the unity we enjoy as a nation.
“This wave of attacks is clearly part of APC’s ‘Janjaweed’ ideology of destruction and inciting the people against individuals, especially government officials, in furtherance of the plot to undermine the system and balkanise the nation along ethnic and religious lines ahead of the 2015 general elections; an agenda which has already failed.”
He added that he was aware that the APC had engaged the services of foreigners who he said had been brought into the country to do the hatchet job in collaboration with the paid consultants who he said were pocketing as much as N5m for each negative publication.
Metuh said, “Nigerians must insist that the APC declares the source of the billions of naira with which it is sponsoring the negative publications.
“We must ensure that the funds are not coming from the resources meant for the development of their states where the people are already subjected to untold hardship on account of the looting and heavy taxes imposed by the APC-controlled governments.
“As an ill-bred party, it is not surprising that the APC has continued to exhibit crass hatred for the President even to the extent of unleashing their thugs on innocent citizens for the singular reason of being in possession of posters of President Goodluck Jonathan.”
He said Nigerians were aware that “the APC is a party of hypocrites; of wolves in messianic robes seeking to deceive with the promise of change. We wish to state categorically that the APC as presently constituted has nothing to offer.”
Reacting to Metuh, his counterpart in the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the PDP had better address issues instead of beating about the bush.
He told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview that there was nothing the APC had said about the PDP that was untrue.
Mohammed said, “Every advert we have placed, I signed them. We have run only two adverts so far, one on the allegation of corruption running into millions of dollars and the other one on the incompetence regarding the recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“I don’t see that as character assassination, I don’t see that as insulting personalities, we have just put the facts in the public domain. They should reply Nigerians.
“Is it not true that people died in the NIS recruitment? Is it not true that they collected N1,000 from each of the applicants? Let them go and face their challenges.”
JOHN ALECHENU AND OLUSOLA FABIYI
