ADC-PCC accuses APC of orchestrating attacks on opposition parties

THE African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has described as hypocritical, disdainful and diversionary a statement by the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APCPCC) condemning attacks on opposition parties during their political gatherings.

In a statement signed by its director of media and publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the ADC-PCC challenged the ruling party to take responsibility for its actions and call its members to order over what it described as the escalating wave of political violence across the country.

The council insisted that neither the APC nor the Bola Tinubu administration could escape responsibility for the climate of political violence threatening Nigeria’s democracy, accusing the ruling party of attempting to divert public attention from its alleged complicity through a hypocritical show of concern.

According to the ADC-PCC, the APC, and not the opposition, is promoting and encouraging political violence across the country.

“The APC cannot pretend to be a victim of the very violence it has nurtured, funded and unleashed on Nigerians since it came to power.

“From Edo to Cross River, from Gombe to Lagos, the pattern is the same: APC thugs disrupt opposition gatherings, attack innocent supporters, destroy campaign materials and then rush to the press to shed crocodile tears.”

The ADC-PCC further accused APC governors of institutionalising political violence in their respective states through the denial of rally venues to opposition parties, demolition of opposition offices, targeted physical attacks and destruction of vehicles belonging to opposition members.

It also condemned what it described as the deliberate suffocation of opposition campaigns through restrictions on the display of party posters, erection of candidates’ billboards and organisation of open political activities, including the imposition of prohibitive and unattainable fees.

The council specifically linked the disruption of Thursday’s scheduled town hall meeting of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Lagos to what it described as the APC’s established tactics of intimidation and political sabotage.

“The disruption of Thursday’s scheduled town hall meeting of the Nigeria Democratic Congress in Lagos bears the unmistakable fingerprints of the APC.

“It is the same old script: orchestrate violence, intimidate the opposition, disrupt their activities and then issue public condemnations to cover up.”

The ADC-PCC maintained that while opposition parties had continued to engage Nigerians on critical national issues, including hunger, insecurity, unemployment, corruption and what it described as the collapse of governance under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC, having little to offer Nigerians, had allegedly resorted to violence as its campaign strategy.

It questioned the sudden concern expressed by the APCPCC, recalling several alleged attacks on ADC members and supporters, including the destruction of party billboards, disruption of rallies and physical assaults on its members.

“Where was the APC’s condemnation when our billboards were destroyed, our rallies disrupted and our members brutalised?

“Their sudden concern is not about peace; it is about diverting attention from their own atrocities.”

The council called on President Tinubu to heed the counsel of elder statesman, Professor Jerry Gana, and demonstrate the leadership expected of a President by ensuring that political activities are conducted in an atmosphere of peace, tolerance and democratic freedom.

It disclosed that the ADC was compiling a comprehensive record of attacks allegedly suffered by its members, adding that the party would, in due course, submit appropriate reports to relevant international judicial and human rights institutions.

The ADC-PCC consequently dismissed the APC’s condemnation as hollow and self-serving, urging Nigerians not to be deceived by what it described as the ruling party’s attempt to distance itself from the prevailing climate of political violence.

Reaffirming its commitment to peaceful and issue-based campaigns, the council declared that neither intimidation nor alleged APC-sponsored violence would deter the ADC from mobilising Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“The ADC remains committed to a peaceful, issue-based campaign. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced.

“No amount of APC-sponsored violence will stop Nigerians from voting for competence, integrity and a new beginning in 2027.”