The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned Nigerians that the sudden interest of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the restructuring of the country is another ploy to deceive Nigerians and divert attention from critical issues of bad governance, which has plunged the nation’s economy. The party wondered why the APC, which refused to participate in the 2014 national conference “convened partly to achieve key elements of restructuring” could wake up now to lay claim to being a proponent of the idea.
PDP’s position was contained in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye. It was in response to an earlier statement in which the APC accused the PDP of not having genuine interest in restructuring. The statement by the PDP, signed by Adeyeye, reads in parts: “We have read with amusement the statement credited to the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Bolaji Ojo-Abdullahi, in which he said that PDP had never been and was not interested in restructuring.
“This sudden interest of the APC in restructuring after several months of denial by its Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, some governors elected on the platform of the party and other senior officials” of the APC’s promise of “restructuring in its manifesto is the latest in a series of deceitful ploys designed and being implemented by the ruling party to hoodwink Nigerians ahead of the 2019 general elections.” According to PDP, “the APC has nothing more to offer Nigeria and Nigerians. The party only resorts to unbridled propaganda as a ploy to deceive Nigerians and distract them from the topical issues upon which they are required to assess APC’s performance in office.”
The PDP therefore urged Nigerians not to take the APC for its word. The statement again stated, “It is a party that was built and is still being sustained by propaganda. Making empty promises is their stock in trade. It is a do-nothing party that believes in nothing. “Indeed, our party’s (PDP) commitment to constantly seeking solutions to the challenges confronting the nation caused us to amend our constitution to include the equitable devolution (decentralization) of power for greater functionality, national integration and rapid economic and social reconstruction, amongst other things. Examples can be found in Preamble 2(b) and (e), Section 7(b) and (f), and many more provisions of our Party Constitution,” he said.
Adeyeye said: “It is against the backdrop of our party’s commitment to restructuring the system of socio-political governance in Nigeria for better functionality and efficiency that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan summoned a national conference to recommend amendments to the Nigerian constitution. This conference submitted a report with several proposed amendments to the constitution, which the APC-led Federal Government has refused to implement more than 2 years later.
“It is imperative to point out that APC was the only political party, which refused to attend the national conference in 2014. It is also imperative to point out that APC’s refusal to participate at the conference was predicated on a narrow and selfish interest.” Reacting to the PDP statement, a founding member of the APC, Prince Tony Momoh said the issue of decongesting the Nigerian political space was a task that must be accomplished.
