PDP Slams APC, Buhari for Imposing Oshiomhole

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally lost all democratic credentials deserving of a ruling party for allowing President Muhammadu Buhari pick the former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, as the national chairman.

The opposition party accused the president of high-handedness in the crowning of Oshiomhole as the national chairman from the Presidential Villa without allowing for a free and fair congress as enshrined in their constitution.

In a statement issued yesterday by the PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said APC has now practically become a party of “any thing goes” where decisions are taken only according to the whims and caprices of President Buhari in conjunction with his presidency cabal.

“It is therefore not surprising that deflated APC governors, who were at the villa meeting, acquiesced to the orders and preferences of President Buhari because the APC has since lost its populist buoyancy and strength with which it was berthed on 2014.

“More appalling to this impunity are the reports of threats and harassment of APC members who demanded for free and fair congress, as well as those, indicating support for other aspirants other than Oshiomhole.

It is obvious that the human rights abuses, intimidations, arrests and detention of opposition and dissenting voices, including the uncompromising members in the APC, as being witnessed in the persecution of senators, are all spawned towards the 2019 re-election bid.

“We invite Nigerians to note that the same Oshiomhole, who is burdened by allegations of humongous corruption while serving as Edo State governor, is the person President Buhari, the African Anti-Corruption Champion, is pushing as the national chairman of his party without taking him through the rigours of due diligence checks.

“We know that the presidency has been jittery over mounting opposition against President Buhari within the APC and, in their desperation to clinch the party’s presidential ticket at all cost, finds a good ally in the former Edo State governor, who by now should have been facing investigation over allegations bordering on corruption.

“Nigerians can now see that the APC is an ideologically vacuous vehicle used to seize power in 2015 and which oppressive elements working for President Buhari are also currently deploying to subvert the will of the people ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“On our part, the repositioned and rebranded PDP remains open and committed to strict observance of all tenets and principles of internal democracy, particularly in providing a level playing ground for all in the process of electing officials and candidates for all position and all levels of political engagements.

“We therefore urge Nigerians to note the undemocratic proclivities of the APC and President Buhari and rally with the PDP to return our country to the path of democracy, freedom, good governance and economic prosperity, come 2019,”

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