Convention: PDP replies APC; says ruling party jittery, ‘clutching on straws’

The Peoples Democratic Party has lambasted the ruling All Progressives Congress for condemning its Saturday’s national convention which threw up new leaders for the opposition party.

The APC had in a statement on Sunday morning described the PDP convention as characterised by vote buying and ballot rigging, saying the exercise exposed the opposition party as a platform with corruption in its DNA.

“The abnormalities that trailed the PDP National Convention have further exposed the PDP as a Party not ready and willing to change,” the ruling party said through its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi. “Indeed, the PDP has once again displayed itself to the generality of Nigerians that it is a Party with corruption deeply rooted in its DNA.”

But in a statement circulated Sunday night, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, shot back, saying having failed Nigerians and violated its own constitution, the APC lacked the credibility to discredit his party’s national convention.

“Nigerians have come to discover that APC is a fraud, an organization of deceitful characters who have failed to keep a single of its countless promises made to the citizens,” Mr. Ologbondiyan said.

Read the PDP full statement below. The APC’s earlier statement is here.

PDP Convention: APC Jittery, Clutching On Straws.

Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the spokesman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Malam Bolaji Abdulahi, wherein he criticized the conduct of the elective National Convention of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

It is indeed laughable that the APC which has roundly failed in not only managing the affairs of the country but also its own internal issues would recourse to panic mode just because the PDP has succeeded in uniting its fronts by conducting of a very credible elective National Convention.

We were very much aware of the plots by the APC to scuttle the convention and failing it has resorted to a failed attempt to discredit an elective convention that has been adjudged as creditable, novel and laudable by political stakeholders and lovers of democracy across the nation.

This unwarranted attack is only symptomatic of a party that has lost control and only clutching on straws for survival having been outrightly rejected by Nigerians.

Is it not disgusting, reprehensible and embarrassing that the APC that has repeatedly failed to hold meetings, congresses and convention in the last three years and has flagrantly continued to violate its own constitution is questioning our party’s rights to perform her legitimate and constitutional obligation?

Perhaps APC leaders have never read Article 25 (A)(i) of their party’s Constitution which stipulates that “the National Convention of the party (APC) shall be held once in two years at a date, venue and time to be recommended by the National Working Committee (NWC) and approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) subject to the giving of the statutory notices to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and at least 14 days notice given to members eligible to attend.”

Which impunity could be higher than APC violating its constitution? It is strange that APC could be moralizing on the principles of social justice whereas its actions against Nigerians are a complete departure from the norms.

It is important for this spokesman of a failed party and his pack of incompetent members to reminisce on the needless pains and suffering they have inflicted on Nigerians rather than being jittery over the successful outcome of the PDP’s elective national convention.

Nigerians have come to discover that APC is a fraud, an organization of deceitful characters who have failed to keep a single of its countless promises made to the citizens.

It is no longer news that the nation is drifting under APC and the PDP has come to the rescue. We must therefore remind the APC that the era of deceit, trickery and scaremongering, which has been the hallmarks of their government, is gone and Nigerians are just waiting to kick them out come 2019.

Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan

National Publicity Secretary