The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a “failed party” that does not know what to do as a ruling or opposition party.
The minister therefore recommended the withdrawal of the party’s certificate of registration.
In a press conference in Lagos on Sunday to update Nigerians on the Dapchi kidnapping, he said, “You are not unaware of the reaction of the naysayers – the main opposition PDP in particular – to the release of the Dapchi girls. What called for non-partisan celebrations was rather thoughtlessly turned into politics, bad, despicable politics that has no place in any democracy. At times of national tragedies, countries unite. This is the norm everywhere.
“The PDP and its co-travelers do not understand that terrorism is a global problem. A terror attack on any country is an attack on all countries. The UN was among the first international organizations to condemn the abduction of the Dapchi girls and also among the first to welcome their release.
“There should be a new criterion for withdrawing the registration of a party like the PDP which has failed both as a ruling and an opposition party! If a party cannot rule and cannot be in opposition, what else can it do?
“Perhaps we should ask the PDP what indeed the party knows about the abduction of the Dapchi girls, going by its statement that their abduction and release were stage-managed.
“The party made itself a laughing stock within and outside Nigeria with that statement. Don’t they know that our international friends are involved in the process that led to the release of the girls?”
Mohammed warned those taking advantage of the situation for political gains to desist or risk the wrath of the security forces of the nation.
Meanwhile, the minister explained that a total of 113 persons were abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi on February 19, and not 110 as previously reported.
He said 111 girls from the school were abducted and two other young Nigerians, including a primary school boy who came to the school to sell pure water and another primary school girl.
“So far, a total of 107 persons, comprising 105 Dapchi schoolgirls and the two non-students, have been released by the insurgents.
“Six Dapchi schoolgirls are yet unaccounted for. All efforts will be made to secure their release,” he disclosed.
Mohammed maintained that no ransom was paid for the girls and no Boko Haram member was swapped for them.
He said, “As I have said at many fora, we neither paid ransom nor swapped any Boko Haram member to secure the release of the girls.
“This is a fact, irrespective of how a section of the press has tried to spin the story.
“The insurgents brought the girls back to the location of the kidnapping themselves as an apparent gesture of goodwill, following relentless efforts by the Government to find long-lasting solutions to the conflict.”