By Olusegun Lawrence The Presidential Campaign Organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the opposition All Progressives Congress of preparing a fertile ground upon which to discredit the ruling party’s anticipated victory at the February 14 presidential election.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the PDP Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, described the APC leaders as desperados who want to grab power by all means.
According to him, the opposition party is planning to unleash anarchy and violence on the country after they lose “so that we would not be able to enjoy our victory,” saying “their plan will fail.
“APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has taken it upon himself to play the devil’s advocate by building up seemingly scary scenarios to create tension, cause panic in the polity and incite supporters of his party and well-meaning Nigerians against the Federal Government, President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP.
“The truth is that they are agents of destabilisation. They comprise of retrogressive elements that are desperate to take power just for the sake of it. If they ever succeed in taking power in this country, God forbid, they will take the country back into darkness because they represent darkness and everything that is reprehensible.”
He said the allegation that the PDP-led Federal Government is planning an Interim National Government was baseless, adding that the APC and “some elements that are secretly behind their party prefer Interim Government once they lose the election.
“The truth is that they cannot win the forthcoming elections and they know it. That is why they have come up with the allegation of Interim National Government. We repeat: those who want Interim National Government are the APC and some elements that are secretly behind their party.
“The nation is already subjected to a dress rehearsal of the monumental violence that the APC is planning. You can see how the party has attacked virtually everyone except itself. It is time that all Nigerians of goodwill told the APC that enough is enough.
“They must stop intimidating people and they must know their place. Indeed, the APC should stop alleging that everybody has a hidden agenda except for its own leaders and members,” he said.
On the calls for the postponement of the elections, Fani-Kayode insisted that it was strictly within the purview of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying PDP has nothing to do with that.
His words, “We wish to state that our party, the PDP and our government under President Jonathan, do not superintend over electoral processes and elections in this country. There is an independent election body in place-the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the chair of Professor Attahiru Jega.
“It is within the purview of INEC to make decisions about the holding and/or postponement of elections. It is not within the functions of the PDP or the Federal Government. We take exception to the fact that they keep on making this allegation deliberately to provoke us. When they say that the PDP is controlling INEC they have become nothing but victims of their own delusions and they are obviously suffering from terrible hallucination.
“INEC is completely independent. We have called on INEC to ensure that everybody has the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC). We have done that public service; but as to whether election is to be postponed or not is INEC’s sole decision. Whichever way, we are very well prepared for election.
The PDP Campaign Organisation spokesperson also accused the APC of setting out to intimidate the Judiciary, saying “The APC has also set out to intimidate the Judiciary. When has it become an offence for aggrieved parties to seek reliefs in the courts of law?
“To suggest that cases instituted in courts are preparatory to scuttling the participation of General Buhari in the presidential election amounts to intimidation of the Judiciary and it is simply unacceptable.
“We in the PDP have never interfered in court processes. We have absolute confidence in the Judiciary, but the APC must not be allowed to intimidate all democracy-supporting institutions from performing their functions within the ambits of the relevant laws of the land.”
Fani-Kayode called on Nigerians to discountenance APC, assuring that all arms of government are patriotically committed to discharging their constitutionally-prescribed responsibilities and duties.
