PDP, APC trade tackles over ‘more destructive party’ to Nigerians

• Party denies releasing timetable for presidential, governorship primaries
• Sowore can’t contest on our platform, says AAC
• PRP insists presidency ticket open to eligible citizens

All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party ((PDP) have accused each other of clogging the nation’s wheel of progress and inflicting the more pain on citizens.

PDP described the ruling party as a “special purpose vehicle” hurriedly assembled to defraud Nigerians, and which has so far taken the people to nowhere.

National publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a chat with journalists in Lokoja, at the weekend, said the performance of APC in the last six years has clearly revealed it has nothing to offer Nigerian.

He said: “The level of poverty unleashed on Nigerians in the past six years is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria, and our people are tired and have unequivocally resolved to show them the way out in 2023.”

He added: “The result of the recent by-election in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, has clearly pointed to the fact that Nigerians have unanimously rejected APC. And PDP is well positioned to take over and restore decency into governance in the country in 2023.

“You can see for yourself the level of insecurity the country have been thrown into. PDP is coming in 2023 to right all the wrongs APC has thrown at us as a nation.”

But reacting, APC state chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello, described PDP as an assemblage of ungodly people, who deserve no response from serious quarters.

According to him, “PDP had the opportunity for 16 years to put things right but squandered and destroyed everything including themselves. What moral justification does the party have to talk about a party through which God has used President Muhammadu Buhari to reposition the country towards greatness?”

He added: “PDP stands for destruction. And they lived up to the true meaning of their name by destroying everything including the lives of their unborn children.”

MEANWHILE, PDP has dismissed social media reports that it had released the timetable and schedule of activities for its 2023 governorship and presidential primary elections.

Reports in a section of social media had stated earlier on Sunday that the party fixed April 28 and 30 for the conduct of its governorship and presidential primary elections.

A party source hinted that the desire by politicians to outwit one another might have been responsible for publication of the fake report.

The source said it might have been designed to put pressure on some political appointees to resign in accordance with the controversial Section 84 of the Electoral Act, which stipulates that appointees standing elections should resign 30 days to a primary.

But Ologunagba, in a statement, said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP is a Party of Due Process and will release a timetable and schedule of activities for the 2022/2023 electioneering year after extensive consultation and approval by critical and statutory organs of the party at appropriate levels.”

The party, therefore, called on all its members and the general public to discountenance the information. THIS came as African Action Congress (AAC) said rights activist and former presidential aspirant, Omoyele Sowore, was “expelled from our great party in 2019 and cannot by any stretch of imagination aspire to contest for any election on its platform.”

In a statement in Abuja yesterday, the party’s national publicity secretary, Sylvester Cletus, said: “The attention of AAC, led by Dr. Leonard Nzenwa, as national chairman, has been drawn to reports, especially from social media, of the intention of one Omoyele Sowore to run for president in 2023 on the platform of the party.

“The national secretariat of the party in Abuja thus clears the air that Sowore’s purported intention to contest for president on AAC platform, when he knew he had long been expelled from the party, shows it is a joke taken too far. The party’s ticket is not for jesters and blackmailers.

“The party will only entertain eminent, credible, responsible and patriotic Nigerians who share same ideology, vision and manifesto of AAC aimed at improving the people’s standards of living. Such charismatic personalities will be given the privilege to contest on the party’s platform; so long they meet the constitutional requirements for positions they desire.”

IN a related development, Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) said its presidential ticket is open for grabs by eligible Nigerians, irrespective of their tribal or religious leanings.

PRP’s national chairman, Dr. Falalu Bello, who spoke during the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) held at the weekend in Abuja, assured that the party would produce a credible candidate for the 2023 presidential poll.