We won’t insult incoming president –PDP

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh

The Peoples Democratic Party said that it will provide a decent and credible opposition that will constructively proffer sound alternatives to the policies and programmes of the incoming administration without recourse to insults, propaganda and deceit.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, who stated this on a Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria political programme on Thursday evening in Abuja, said the PDP would neither insult nor denigrate the office and person of the Nigerian President.

He said because of the respect the party has for the office of the President, there was no way it would insult incoming President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

He said, “The PDP is a political party built on values, tradition and utmost respect for democratic tenets. Our manifesto and ideology centre on national peace, stability and prosperity and we shall uphold this at all times. In this wise, the PDP as always, will continue to work in the general interest of the Nigerian people.

“We will not resort to insults, blackmail and lies with the aim to distract or ridicule the person or office of the President. However, we must state in very strong terms that we will not allow them to lead the nation astray. So we will firmly oppose any anti-people policy and programmes as may be introduced by the APC.

“We will do this by presenting sound alternatives in such a manner that Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries especially on issues that will lead the nation in the path of national unity and development.”

Commenting on the conduct of the April 11, 2015 governorship and state assembly elections, Metuh lamented that the process was characterised by what he described as brazen irregularities against the PDP in most states.

He upbraided the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies for the “barefaced overzealousness on the part of some of their personnel to please the winner of the presidential election.”

Metuh said concerns were already on the rise regarding the fate of the nation’s democracy under the APC especially given fears that the impunity that characterised the local government elections it conducted in South-West states might now be extended to other parts of the nation.”

Noting that the elections witnessed massive conspiracy against the PDP, Metuh said his party would not complain in areas where the people clearly preferred the candidates of other parties, but would decisively pursue its mandate in places where there were clear infractions against the PDP. He said such instances abound in states such as Imo, Jigawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Lagos, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Nasarawa and other concerned states. He alleged that in Imo State, authentic result sheets were replaced with those from Kaduna and Katsina states with fictitious figures awarded to APC.

According to him, the most scandalous was in Ideato North Local Government Area where INEC awarded about 34,000 votes to the APC even when the number of PVCs collected in the area stands at about 26,000.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the April 11 election, Teslim Folarin, has urged supporters of the party not to be discouraged by the performance of the party in the last general elections.

The former Senate Leader, who addressed party supporters in Ibadan on Friday, said he would spearhead the effort to rebrand the party in the state, while also giving the promise that PDP would regain its leading status.