The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has taken a swipe at the All Progressives Congress-led government over what it called the increasing spate of insecurity in some parts of the country.
This is just as the board warned the ruling party not to drive the nation into a one-party state with the manner it is handling the nation’s democracy.
Meanwhile, the APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, stated that the PDP is merely throwing tantrums following its defeat at the polls and in the court.
Ibrahim also mocked the utterances of the PDP BoT, saying it is on record that the opposition party has the unenviable record of failed attempts to mould Nigeria into a one-party state.
In a communique issued at the end of its 75th meeting on Thursday in Abuja, the PDP BoT flayed the Tinubu-led government of its management of the economy and its resultant effect
Read by its Chairman and former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, the board rejected the PEPC judgment, adding that it was monitoring the election petition cases across the land.
The communique read in part, “The BoT expresses serious concerns over the excruciating hardship, worsening insecurity, and a general sense of apprehension and despondency across the country occasioned by the hasty implementation of ill-planned policies of the overtly insensitive APC administration.
“The BoT is seriously worried over the continued fall in the value of the Naira arising from the ill-implemented policies of the APC with attendant devastating negative effect on the economy resulting in agonizing high costs and unbearable pressure on families.
“The BoT restates its rejection of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in upholding the declaration of the APC as the winner of the February 25, 2023, Presidential election, despite the evidence clearly pointing to the contrary.
“The BoT is also monitoring and studying the outcome of cases in various election courts with regards to their level of adherence and respect to the Rule of Law and evidence before such court.
“The BoT is resolved to take urgent steps to resist the current manifest desperation by the APC to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.
“The BoT commends the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar for following due process of the law in his quest to retrieve the Presidential Mandate freely given to him at the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
“The BoT laments that the APC is pushing Nigerians to the wall and worry that the level of poverty and anger in the polity over the suppressive rule of the APC is capable of snowballing into a serious crisis if not urgently addressed.”
That said, the board expressed confidence in the “Capacity and courage of the Supreme Court to ultimately and decisively right the wrongs and correct the manifest errors contained in the Judgment of the PEPC in the interest of the unity, stability and corporate existence of our country.”
The meeting was attended by the PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, former Senate President, David Mark, former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, ex- Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Tanimu Turaki among others.
In his remarks, Ibrahim, said, “The dream of the PDP when it was in power has always been to rule Nigeria for almost 100 years. They have said so times without number. When a party says it has the ambition of ruling for close to 100 years uninterrupted, I don’t know what name can better describe it than a one-party state.
“I don’t know if the word ‘one-party’ was in their dictionary. So if any party comes after Nigerians turned their back on the PDP and try to put things in order, they should be the one to be held responsible for attempting to turn the country to one-party state. The APC has no plan or ambition to turn Nigeria into one. But certainly, it wants to strengthen democracy by giving the people the chance to choose and making all the parties all competitive in marketing their wares to the public and allow the electorate to decide.
“Now that the people have decided on the APC, they are going to reap the benefits of democracy from what the APC under President Bola Tinubu is putting in place. The PDP is talking out of the pain of defeat. That is why they are throwing all these tantrums. They have lost everywhere. It has lost at the polls and in the court. The next thing is even to put the blame on God for creating the people that crafted the APC. May God have mercy on them.”
