Adedayo Akinwale Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it is not responsible for the recent pasting of posters of some of the party members and leaders in some parts of the country.
The posters of the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu; the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole; and Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, for the 2023 general election were recently seen in some parts of the country.
While that of Tinubu was seen in Lagos, el-Rufai’s posters were seen in Kaduna, allegedly sponsored by the Northern Youth Forum, while that of Oshiomhole were seen in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, while addressing a press conference Thursday in Abuja, stated that having won the last general election convincingly and having been given the mandate to run government for the next four years, the major and only focus of the party now is governance.
He said: “Some posters being pasted in some states of the country about 2023 as some of our party members and leaders purported to be interested in certain elections, it is the PDP’s usual strategy of intimidating the state institutions to achieve their devilish objectives.
“We are not involved in any activity about 2023 elections and wherever you see such, you can be sure it is from mischief makers. And of course we know it is part of the PDP strategy to continue to take actions to distract the governing party from focusing on what is important to the people of Nigeria; which is to deal with challenges that we are all faced with. The challenges of governance, the issue of economy, security and corruption and many other associated issues.”
Issa-Onilu noted that the APC understands the social contract it signed with the people of Nigeria, stressing that with the renewal of the party’s mandate, whatever posters of any of its leaders seen anywhere in the country was irrelevant.
“We don’t have a hand in it, it is not from us. It is not from those leaders or anybody that work with them,” he stated.
To this end, the party spokesperson urged all its members to focus on what is important to the party.
Issa-Onilu said the party dissociates itself and leaders from issues that have to do with another election, adding that election is done and dusted and the party is now faced with the issue of governance.
Reacting to the allegation by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) that the ruling party is arm-twisting the judiciary, Issa-Onilu noted that it was not the practice of the party to strangulate the judiciary.
He stressed that the party understands the importance of the arm of government, noting that by the time the judiciary is strangulated, it would be a pathway to the collapse of the institution the country relies on.
However, the party spokesman described the allegation of CUPP as baffling and very disturbing.
The party noted that it understands where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is coming from, adding that for 16 years, it has been the practice under PDP and perhaps the opposition party now imagines that this is the instrument that any other political party would want to apply.
Also, commenting on the alleged crack in the presidency, Issa-Onilu said he has important issues of governance to concentrate on than to continue to respond to fallacies.
He described as a joke the purported crack in the presidency by the PDP despite the fact that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had been sent to represent President Muhammadu Buhari at an international event, and the vice-president presiding over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.
