The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hit back at opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) for asking President Goodluck Jonathan to join its fold saying by so doing, the opposition has admitted that it has no presidential material in its fold.
The PDP also claimed that the leadership crisis rocking the opposition party just a few days after registration is an indication that the APC is a party of desperate power mongers whose only aim is to satisfy their egocentric interests.
The ruling party in a statement signed by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Barr Tony Caesar Okeke said the APC has confirmed to Nigerians that it does not believe in the leadership abilities of its prominent leaders, General Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. This confirmation reinforces our earlier assertion that the duo are despots lacking in democratic credentials.
It said the call has betrayed the opposition as a clueless party in dire need of leadership and ideology and as such seeks to tap from the PDP.
“The attention of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to the call by proponents of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) to President Goodluck Jonathan to join their fold. By so doing, the APC has clearly admitted that it has looked within itself and discovered the bitter truth that it has no presidential material.
“By calling President Goodluck Jonathan to join it, the APC has shown that it has no confidence in the leadership abilities of its prominent leaders such as General Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The party has looked inwards and has realized the bitter truth that none of those in its fold has the required credentials, charisma and competence to be president hence they have been seeking to poach from the PDP.
“The APC has clearly vindicated the PDP by openly showing that it is a confused and clueless party, lacking in ideology and in dire need of leadership. It is only a gathering of confused persons that will at one moment falsely condemn somebody as inept and incompetent and the next moment they are begging the same person to come and join them.
“Also of particular interest is the statement credited to General Buhari who was reported to have said that the APC will push out the PDP in 2015. General Buhari as a respected military leader should be reminded that in a democracy, the power to vote out a party lies only with the people. Buhari has severally been rejected by the people at the polls and he and his new party will still witness another round of such verdict in 2015’, the party said.
The PDP also took stock of the crisis in the ranks of the APC in the states where “everybody is arrogating leadership positions to themselves” and submitted that the opposition has shown that it lacks the ability to enforce internal democracy and discipline. It said such is a signal of the form of chaos to be experienced if the party is elected into office at any level.
The PDP wondered why the APC interim national leadership is reading a riot act to those who arrogated themselves leadership position in the states noting that “they must have learnt such undemocratic and dictatorial attitudes from their national leaders such as Tinubu and Buhari”.
Dr Doyin Okupe,presidential aide said in a statement today too that “It is noteworthy that in extending its invitation to the President, the National Chairman of the APC made reference to what it called “crisis rocking the PDP”; forgetting that the real test of leadership is not in running away from crisis but in resolving them firmly and fairly. The very nature of democratic politics envisages conflict of ideas, interests and aspirations which must be aggregated for the overall good of the public and which all true leaders must be mentally and emotionally prepared to tackle.
“This is why Mr President has continued to pursue the Transformation Agenda with zeal, focus and unequalled determination despite the enormous security challenges mostly orchestrated by elements in the opposition political party who had hoped that the ship of the Nigerian Nation would not stay afloat under the first President ever produced from a minority ethnic group.
“Unlike the APC which its chairman confessed was just putting together its manifestoes and leadership structure, the Peoples Democratic Party which produced the President has pursued and currently executing a definite blue Print to take Nigeria out of the woods of economic stagnation and social deprivation, with verifiable degrees of success in the last two years.
“With this invitation by the APC to President Goodluck Jonathan and open declarations of its unpreparedness by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, it should be apparent to Nigerians that this new political party is directionless, lacking substance, and without a clear purposeful leadership”,Okupe said.
