PDP reacts angrily to claim it insulted Buhari, says president “not God”

The Peoples Democratic Party has accused the All Progressives Congress of not being able to accept, with equanimity, constructive criticisms of its administration.

In a statement on Saturday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said it was unfortunate that the APC and its leaders, who gleefully and unjustifiably poured invectives on former President Goodluck Jonathan in the guise of playing the role of an opposition party, would now not want to condone criticisms. “Unlike the APC that denigrated the office and person of former President Jonathan by wrongly depicting him as ‘clueless and incompetent’, the PDP remains the most decent, mature and constructive opposition party in our democracy and we have evidenced great respect for the person and exalted office of President Muhammadu Buhari. “During the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, while in the saddle as interim Deputy National Secretary of the APC, in a post on his twitter page, described President Jonathan as ‘lazy, docile, incompetent, clueless, hopeless and useless leader.’ Other APC leaders made raining abuses on Jonathan a past time.

“The PDP is a very responsible
opposition party; our leaders are
mature; and we have demonstrated so in our critique of
the p​resident’s responses during the maiden
Presidential Media Chat. We have reviewed
President Buhari’s performance and
concluded that it was uninspiring​.​
“The entire world listened to President Buhari
during the chat and went away with different
impressions. We did and came up with the
theme of our initial reaction that portrayed
him very appropriately as a tyrant. And for
purpose of clarity, a tyrant is a ruler who has
complete power over a country and who uses
the power in a cruel and unfair way, which
was why we recommended the suspension of
the operation of the constitution so he can
rule for the next four years as a maximum
ruler.
“In its reaction, his party National Chairman,
John Oyegun​,​ magisterially and dictatorially
warned that ‘we (APC) may not condone such
anymore.’ Our position in the PDP is that we
are in trouble as a nation. All we hear from
the APC regarding our freedom is ‘we won’t
tolerate’, ‘we won’t condone.’ Are these words
used by democrats or tyrants?
“So, the PDP too is being warned and coerced
on what to say as opposition party. The PDP
must be commended for the civil, responsible,
mature, issue-based opposition it has played.
The nation knows how the APC rained insults
on former President Jonathan and that the
PDP, during that time, never used words like
‘it would not condone…’
“Some have even criticised the PDP style of
opposition as being too civil considering the
tyranny we are facing. That is why Chief John
Oyegun could term a dictionary word-‘tyrant’-
as insulting. Nigerians do not need the PDP or
anyone else to make them decide if President
Buhari’s APC government fits the definition of
a tyrant.
“The real trait of the President was unraveled
during the media chat. He has repeatedly
shown his scorn for the Legislature, an
independent arm of government while
sanctioning security agencies’ disrespect for
court orders and the impunity of continuous
incarceration of people who have been
granted bails by the courts.
“Also from his responses, the p​resident has
even pronounced a guilty verdict on Col
Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu of Radio
Biafra even before the hearings by the courts.
Sadly, even the international community has
noted this brazen scorn and disdain for the
independence of the judiciary.
“Furthermore, how do we describe a
president who openly denigrated an entire
race as he did in the media chat when he
suggested that the Igbos were insatiable with
the appointments his government has so far
given to them? Indeed, the timing and the
tenor of the p​resident’s comment, given the
security and political situation in the land,
remain worrisome, especially at a time a
nerve-soothing statement from the father of
the nation could have reassured the agitators
of the need for peace and unity in the nation.
“Besides, it is sad and embarrassing that
President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade has
now been reduced to a war between the APC
and the PDP as declared by the Office of his
spokespersons.

Since they have confirmed that this is what the
anti-corruption crusade is all about, the APC is
obviously seeking to destroy the PDP so that it
can push through Buhari’s second tenure in
2019 without opposition from the PDP.
“This has also confirmed our concern that this
is the reason the Federal Government is
persecuting, and not prosecuting, Col. Sambo
Dasuki. The APC and its leaders fear that
Dasuki, given his vast political and security
network, may be harbouring a presidential
ambition, more so that the PDP has zoned its
presidential ticket to the north.
“The PDP is conversant with the sinister plan
by the APC-led Federal Government to
completely decimate our party by raking up
all manner of allegations of corruption
against the Goodluck Jonathan administration
and leaders of the PDP with a view to taking
them to court on orchestrated charges.
“Finally we are aware that President Buhari
has directed security agencies to be more
vicious in dealing with our members and has
continued to subtly coerce the Judiciary to
convict those being charged to court. But what
gives us joy is that President Buhari is not God
and we will not worship him.