By Mohammed Mohammed
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to quite Nigeria’s political stage to allow other parties with fresh ideas occupy the centre stage.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement, said PDP has become disillusioned by the string of election victories recorded by the APC at the general elections
He berated Prince Uche Secondus, PDP’s National Chairman on Monday for lamenting that it would be difficult for the PDP to participate in future elections in the country.
He said: “This is exactly our fear. Is this not a confirmation of APC’s earlier position that Nigeria was fast becoming a one-party State as a result of the rudderless and soulless PDP, Nigeria’s supposed main opposition party?
“No doubt, our country deserves a strong and vibrant opposition to play its conventional role in the polity and to deepen democracy. The PDP has shown crass and shocking incapacity to perform that role. As a party that believes in democracy and progressive politics, we are worried by this obvious vacuum.
“No rigorous and intelligent interrogation of the current administration’s policies and programmes by the PDP. Just idle chatter, propagation of fake news, post-election delusions and other unpatriotic conducts. This is dangerous for our democracy.”
Onilu, said APC, is therefore inviting other registered political parties to step up and perform the crucial opposition role the PDP has failed so woefully to play.
On election violence, he said PDP accuses APC of conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to record the string of election victories in the recent elections.
He asked: “Is the APC surprised by the PDP’s pointless outbursts? No! This has become the PDP’s stock-in-trade and coping mechanisms following the PDP’s rejection in 2015.
“The same PDP has maintained a graveyard silence over the election robberies in Zamfara and Rivers states. The APC was punished for allegedly not conducting proper primaries in Zamfara State, while PDP got rewarded in Sokoto and Kano for not conducting any primaries at all.”