The tit-for-tat between Nigeria’s two biggest parties has continued to escalate, with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being beneficiaries of terrorism.
After the PDP National Working Committee’s meeting on Wednesday, Mr Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the party, told the media that APC was celebrating terrorism, which has been unleashed on the country by Boko Haram.
He said: “APC is the major beneficiary of terrorism in this country. We stand by our statement that APC celebrates terrorism.
“We didn’t say APC bombed Nyanya, Kano or Jos. What we said is that APC by their actions and utterances, promote violence.
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“If they do so, they cannot shy away from the fact that they fuelled violence.”
APC had accused the PDP-led government of insensitivity for holding a political rally in Kano on April 15 ─ a day after the Nyanya blast that killed 75 persons ─ and, as it later turned out, shortly after hundreds of girls were kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram.
But PDP is now accusing APC of being hypocritical for gong ahead with a rally in Ekiti a day after over 100 persons were killed in Jos explosions.
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Metuh said the APC had remained “hypocritical in the face of loss of lives caused by the insurgents”.
He said he was shocked that while the nation was still mourning the death of those who died in the Jos and Kano bombings, the APC was engaged in a political rally in Ekiti ─ whereas PDP called off its own rally.
This was more worrisome as the debris of the bombings was yet to be cleared, he said.
Metuh said that it was ironic that the APC which had lost its voice found it whenever there was a bomb blast in the country.
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“This gives us concern and we are bringing it to the consciousness of Nigerians for them to judge,” he stressed.
He claimed that the APC was engaging in propaganda and misinformation, asking Nigerians and the international community to be wary of the APC which, he said, had vowed to make the country ungovernable.