The All Progressive Congress, APC, has replied opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that it did not promise to fix the nation’s economy and turn the tides of the nation’s treasury in four years.
The statement comes in reaction to a report attributed to a PDP chieftain who accused the ruling party of its failure to redeem its pledge to the electorate. Speaking in reaction to the report, the national publicity secretary of the ruling party, Bolaji Abdullahi stated that the period of four years was not enough to revive the economy which he blamed the opposition party of ruining.
Abdullahi in a statement issued on behalf of the party stated: “We refer to a story in the Vanguard Newspaper of Saturday, July 15 titled, ‘2019: PDP unveils plans to sack APC.’
“In the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment that favoured the Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Makarfi himself announced rather exuberantly that his victory at the court meant that PDP was ready to return to power. We had dismissed Makarfi’s statement as part of the excitement that follows a favourable court ruling. However, since that Wednesday verdict, we noticed that several of his supporters and party members have expressed similar sentiment. We therefore feel the need to respond appropriately.
“In recent past, the PDP brand of opposition politics had been characterized mainly by allegation mongering and open incitements of separatist agitations across the country. It appears however that the outcome of Wednesday ruling is beginning to set them on a different course. We are therefore delighted that the PDP is beginning to talk about holding the APC accountable for the promises in our manifesto.
“We want Nigerians, not just the PDP, to hold us accountable for every promise contained in our manifesto. We only urge them to be fair. A manifesto is not a four-year programme. If PDP had fully implemented its manifesto in the 16 years that it was in power, Nigerians would not have been attracted to the APC promise of change in 2015, because there would have been little left to promise.
‘’The Vanguard report also quoted the un-namable minister as comparing the PDP and the APC to a tale of two wives, saying that Nigerians have tried the two and had seen who was better. We find this metaphor quite interesting. We need to point out however that APC is the new wife that is busy working at the kitchen that has been looted empty by the former wife who had made away with the entire foodstuff and even the kitchen utensils. Nigerians know this. If the food is a little late in coming, they understand the circumstance. But if that other thieving wife now begins to argue that she was a better cook and should be brought back into the kitchen because the new wife is a slow cook, then that should pass for hypocrisy. No matter the temporary hardship that we may be experiencing, Nigerians know better than to bring PDP back to power so soon for fear that this time, they might disappear with the kitchen itself.”
Abdullahi further accused the PDP of trying to gain political capital from the ill health of the ailing President, Muhammadu Buhari as he claimed that the PDP has a “penchant to mock President Muhammadu Buhari with his health situation.”
“We admit that the health of a president is every citizen’s business. However, it is un-African, if not ungodly, to continue to taunt a man and even challenge him to a fight at his moment of weakness. We have seen, in the last few days, some members of the PDP who have boasted to defeat President Buhari in 2019. We urge Nigerians to google the names of these individuals and see what comes up. It is however understandable, even if not acceptable, that when the lion is enfeebled, even a rabbit would grow the temerity to tweak its tail.
“We urge Nigerians to remain resolute in support of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari. We are confident that whatever difficulty we are going through at the moment is only a passing phase.”