PDP, APC trade accusations over Ibeto, anti-polls leaflets

THE Niger State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the Deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, was economical with the truth when he alleged that he was thrown out of the state executive council meeting last Wednesday.

  Meanwhile, the national secretariat of the APC has accused those it said are mortally afraid of the 2015 general elections of sponsoring the circulation of leaflets urging the people of Gombe to stay away from the polling booths on election days or they will be in trouble.

   A statement in Minna Sunday by the PDP Public Relations Officer (PRO), Hassan Saba, condemned the deputy governor for accusing Governor Mu’azu Babandia Aliyu. He said the accusation by Ibeto amounted to cheap way of scoring political points, describing it as shameful and regrettable.

“Ibeto should be man enough to say he left the council chamber on his own volition on what SEC thought was on moral ground. He should stop peddling lies. We know he is trying to look for cheap popularity but he should do so when there is element of truth in it.”

 Saba said the PDP-led government of Governor Aliyu has always treated the deputy governor as equal since 2007, adding that despite jumping ship to the opposition for personal political interest, he is still accorded his official paraphernalia.

   But in a swift reaction, the APC described the claim that the deputy governor excused himself from the meeting as false, adding that such claim was the height of the deceit to which the people of the state were subjected by the PDP government in the last seven years.

  The state Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, called on the governor to produce the clips of his opening remarks at the Wednesday council meeting, arguing that the people know who is lying between Aliyu and the deputy governor.

   Vatsa said it was unfortunate that the governor and his aides were calling the deputy governor uncomplimentary names.

   In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it cannot put anything beyond the PDP and the Jonathan administration, because of their alleged desperation to ensure that the general elections do not hold, at all costs.

APC said even the attack on Gombe on Saturday was suspect, wondering how Boko Haram insurgents will drive on the highway from Maiduguri to Gombe in a convoy of many vehicles without being spotted or stopped at the myriad of military checkpoints dotting the area.

  APC said it is curious that the Boko Haram terrorists, who have never mentioned the elections in their regular videos on YouTube, have suddenly started campaigning against the conduct of elections.

 The party also noted that the local government elections in Yobe, one of the hotbeds of the Boko Haram insurgency, went without any incident in 2013, indicating there has not been a systematic campaign by the insurgents to attack voters.