…It Is A Lie — APC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday warned its major rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to refrain from continuously dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines.
But the APC had earlier denied the allegation, saying instead that all its activities are tailored towards making the country the best place for its citizens.
According to a statement signed by National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, the allegation laid against the APC by an Islamic cleric, Yusuf Garba, as well as the Religious Equity Promotion Council (REPC) show that the opposition party has in its agenda, the balkanization of Nigeria along religious lines by imposing an Islamic agenda on the country.
“PDP is making it clear to Nigerians to stand up and resist the evil machination by enemies of our dear country. The comment from Islamic clerics vindicated the PDP’s claims that the APC is a party of blood thirsty, religious and ethnic bigots averse to the unity of the country and the peaceful co-existence of our people”, read a part of the statement.
“Nigerians are now no longer at loss on the real reason the APC has been desperate to hold power… a case in point being the importation of hundreds of armed thugs to disrupt the Anambra governorship election last December. But for the Police, which arrested some of the thugs, APC would have unleashed mayhem on the state and used it as a test for its larger plan in the 2015 general elections.
“PDP is a party is built on the principles of freedom, equality, justice and service. In this great party, considerations are not made based on religious, tribal or ethnic interests. Here, there are neither Christians nor Muslims; Hausas nor Yorubas; Fulanis nor Ijaws; Igalas nor Igbos and so on.
“The PDP remains a large family with enough room to accommodate all opinions and interests without compromising the national interest. It stands for peace and unity”.
While defending the claim by the Islamic cleric earlier, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC said out of the 25 Interim National Executive Committee membership, 18 are Muslims and 17 are Christians.
Warning “religious bigots and their official sponsors” against setting the country on fire through sponsored religious disharmony, he observed that “the APC is just six months old after the merger yet is a broad-based party from all religions.
He accused the Presidency of sponsoring Yusuf Mamman to denigrate the APC, stressing that those who know Yusuf Mamman’s antecedents would not be surprised by his utterances.