The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it is “iniquitous for President Muhammadu Buhari to attempt to use the heartbreaking abduction of innocent schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State, to score cheap political points.”
The party expressed shock that “President Buhari could do so right before our grief-stricken parents.”
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, the PDP said the comments by the President “as well as his aloofness to the people in the troubled states, so far visited, have all confirmed that the belated visits were mere afterthoughts orchestrated for political reasons and not out of any genuine concern for the victims.”
The PDP also said that “the President’s morbid comparison of the Dapchi incident to similar heartrending abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, in 2014,” appears pregnant with meaning, “especially in the face of pervading speculations and conspiracy theorems that trailed the Dapchi abduction and its associated conflicting reports.”
The party noted that more disheartening was the attempts by the President to politicize killings in troubled states “and particularly the abduction of our innocent Dapchi daughters, right in the presence of their distraught parents.”
According to the PDP, “When the President went to Taraba, he made a morbid comparison of more people being killed in one state than the other, as if human life is valued in figures.
“This time, he went on an ill-conceived political ego venture and self-praise with the abduction of our Dapchi daughters,” the statement added.
The PDP said it agrees no less with Nigerians that this development is worrisome.
It said this was particularly so given the sequence of events that trailed the incident.
According to the party, “Nigerians can recall how the Presidency deployed a team of officials led by the minister of information and culture to Yobe State, ostensibly for a media stunt. What followed was the release of a false rescue report by yet to be ascertained individuals or agency and statements by sponsored groups praising the Presidency for illusionary ‘swift rescue operations’ while the abductors were fleeing deeper into unknown recesses.
“Nigerians need to know; is there a heinous script in which our innocent daughters in Dapchi have become pawns? Who is behind the initial false rescue report and what point was it meant to serve? Was it designed to promote a political stunt?
“Moreover, why has the Presidency not taken critical steps to unravel the mystery behind the report and those who scripted it?
“These are some of the reasons we urged the National Assembly to institute an independent inquest into the Dapchi abduction and make its findings public.
“Furthermore, we still wonder why the parents of the Dapchi girls were not allowed enough opportunity to have direct interaction with the President during the visit to Yobe State.
“Was it to bar them from taking the President to task on issues surrounding the abduction, including the alleged removal of troops before the attack as well as speculations and allegations of conspiracy theorems which have been promoted by conflicting reports and disagreements among government agencies and officials on the ugly incident?
“The PDP holds that issues of security and well-being of our people must not be reduced to political drama for any reason and under any guise whatsoever. Such is completely evil, iniquitous and unpardonable.
“We, therefore, charge Mr. President to stop every action in this direction as such is portraying our nation as inhumane, callous and cold-hearted.
“Finally, we charge the Presidency and the APC to understand that profane gimmicks cannot help their doomed re-election bid as Nigerians have seen through their lies and propaganda and are now rallying with the repositioned platform of the PDP to rescue our dear nation from the painful misrule of the APC,” the party added.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari and pass the amendment it effected on the sequence of the upcoming 2019 elections.
It said that the APC-led Federal Government was jittery over the amendment which pushed the presidential election backward, saying the ruling party was afraid it would lose the election.
Speaking to newsmen, in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Onyekachi Nwebonyi, said that President Buhari and his APC have failed Nigerians and were afraid they would be voted out come 2019.
Nwebonyi’s words, “I support the decision of the National Assembly; the election of the President should come last. The President should stay aside and watch other elections, that is, if we actually want to get it right; the fact about the election is that when you have elected the President definitely everybody would want to cue behind the presidency. So, let us start from the bottom to the top.
“The National Assembly didn’t change the date; it is talking about the sequence of the election and the National Assembly has the veto power to operate within the ambit of the law. So, anybody has right to go to court but am telling you that as a lawyer that at the end of the day the veto of the National Assembly will stand.
“If the president fails to accent to that bill, after sometime in line with the constitution of the country, what the national assembly has done will become a law and it will stand”, he said.
“If you are on ground and you have peace with the people, the sequence or date of the election shouldn’t be your problem; unlike when former President Jonathan was in power some people said he should change Prof. Jega but we said no because we have nothing to lose because we are not afraid of anything; we are a party that abides by the rule of law; if Nigerians say they don’t want PDP as they said we will quietly and honourably step aside.
“Nigerians have tested that other side of the coin and they have now seen the need for PDP to come back; and I want to thank Nigerians for embracing PDP. If PDP eventually gets back to power we are not going to fail Nigerians”, he boasted.