• Party alleges plot to use ethnic militias to disrupt elections
• PDP dismisses opposition’s claims
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign organsation has accused the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, of playing out a script aimed at damaging the image of the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
In the same vein, it has alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan administration is sponsoring ethnic militias to foment trouble before, during and after the forthcoming general election.
It said the sum of N9 billion was recently paid out to some ex-militants and ethnic militias with the aim of mobilising them to scuttle the polls.While addressing journalists yesterday at the party’s presidential campaign office in Abuja, the Director of Media and Information, Garba Shehu, said the Buhari campaign was aware of a grand plan by the presidency to broadcast an interview granted by Lamido on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) network stations where he would attempt to disparage Buhari and his presidential bid.
“We just got information that all FRCN stations have been directed to link up for a live interview to be granted by Lamido of Jigawa State about now. The contents of the interview as agreed with Vice-President Namadi Sambo and President Jonathan are to essentially damage Buhari’s image,” he said.
Shehu said the main thrust of the smear campaign suggests that Buhari would be a figurehead while his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will be the de facto president.
According to the campaign spokesman, Lamido in the interview would be citing examples of Buhari’s leadership style, such as his days with the late Tunde Idiagbon and Salihijo of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
Shehu said: “This situation he will claim is unfair to the North as the South-west will be indirectly getting another term of office as president in addition to the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s years, so northerners should not be deceived into voting for APC.
“A few things we will like to point out to Lamido’s audience are that: Lamido had been pressured to do the interview because of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pressure on his sons’ corruption charges.
“Lamido has never worked near or with Buhari to know his leadership style. Those working closely with him in the APC know otherwise. When did Lamido become a spokesman for the North? What did he and other Jonathan apologists negotiate for the North as the South-west has been doing with Jonathan in the last two weeks?
“Of the millions of the US dollars that Jonathan has allegedly been sharing to traditional and religious leaders in the South-west, how much of it did Lamido negotiate and obtain on behalf of the northern traditional and religious leaders? As a self-appointed northern interest spokesman, what is his response to the pejorative references made by Mrs. Patience Jonathan about northerners?”
Meanwhile, the APC in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused the Jonathan administration of aligning with some ethnic militia to scuttle the forthcoming elections.
The party said the protests by MASSOB last week seeking the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, was orchestrated by the administration as part of its continuing efforts to sabotage the elections.
It alleged the next group that has been mobilised to protest againsts Jega and the use of card reader is the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), which is also a beneficiary of the N9 billion payout ostensibly for pipeline protection, but in reality to prepare the ethnic militias for their reprehensible role in scuttling the elections.
APC said more ethnic militias are to be enlisted by the Jonathan administration to continue the protest against Jega and the card reader, in order to give the impression that Nigerians want Jega sacked and are also against the use of card reader.
The party expressed sadness that a president who inherited a united country has done everything can to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines, including patronising ethnic militias who serve no other purpose than to champion sectional interests at the expense of national unity.
It wondered why President Jonathan should pay N9 billion to a handful of people at a time of great economic downturn and falling naira, as well as in a situation in which many states cannot even afford to pay their workers because of dwindling allocation from the Federation Account.
‘’A profligate government that has been bribing people with dollars and ferrying huge funds around practically to buy votes has outdone itself by paying out all of N9billion to a few Nigerians, with less than three weeks to the elections.
Shortly after the payment, some self-serving groups started organising protests that, for all intents and purposes, are being orchestrated to scuttle the polls.
This is a shameful show by the federal government,’’ APC said.
In a swift reaction, the PDP presidential campaign organisation described as false, the allegation that the President Jonathan administration is sponsoring ethnic militias to disrupt the scheduled March 28 and April 11 elections.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign organisation , Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who reacted in Abuja yesterday, also justified the employment and compensation given to families of the victims of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy, saying the APC’s criticism of the gesture was unfortunate.
According to him, “Once again, Lai Mohammed has indulged in lies on behalf of his lying party, the APC. It is not true that the PDP or the federal government is sponsoring ethnic militias. It is also not true that N9 billion has been allocated for that purpose.
“It is rather the APC that has consistently supported and sponsored the Boko Haram both in substance and in their utterances over the last few years. This recourse to telling a lie every day by the opposition party will not in any way assist them in achieving their objectives.
“We will remain focused on the issues. We will talk about their weaknesses and we will also talk about the achievements of President Jonathan on why it is important that he is re-elected to power on March 28. That is our focus.
“We have said it before and we will say it again: these people have become prisoners of their own delusions; they have become victims of their own hallucinations and fantasies. They have become paranoid such that they are sleeping and hiding under their beds. They are running from their own shadows and what we are witnessing is simply the judgment of God on them. They have lost their peace. They are running when nobody is chasing them and that is why they are saying these things.
“It is really is a pity that it has degenerated to this point. But the fact of the matter is that no serious-minded persons will take them seriously when they talk like this.”
On the APC claim that the PDP and the federal government were trying to garner cheap political profit from the calamity that befell some young Nigerians with the employment and compensations to the families of the affected victims of the NIS employment tragedy, Fani-Kayode said: “It is not the PDP that feeds off the blood of other individuals; it is not the PDP that is a party of ritualists and cultists; it is not the PDP that encourages and supports terrorist
organisations that have slaughtered about 35,000 people over the last three years.
“It was the APC that did that when Lai Mohammed said it was unconstitutional and unjust for the federal government to proscribe Boko Haram. We do not feed off calamity; they are the ones who do that and they consistently do that and they will continue to do that and that is why we are saying they are not fit to take power in this country.
“The president’s gesture concerning the victims of the calamity that took place last year when all those young people were killed was a noble gesture and was simply an acknowledgment of the fact that these people died under very, very sad circumstances.
“It was simply an attempt to alleviate the suffering and pain of the families of those that were killed and no right-thinking person will read any other meaning to that.
“It was a reflection of the compassion and the inherent goodness that reside in the president’s heart and I think every patriotic and right-thinking Nigerian should commend him for that and not talk about feeding off people’s calamity. We are not cultists in the PDP. It is the APC that is filled with cultists and ritualists.”
Source: Thisday
• PDP dismisses opposition’s claims
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign organsation has accused the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, of playing out a script aimed at damaging the image of the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
In the same vein, it has alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan administration is sponsoring ethnic militias to foment trouble before, during and after the forthcoming general election.
It said the sum of N9 billion was recently paid out to some ex-militants and ethnic militias with the aim of mobilising them to scuttle the polls.While addressing journalists yesterday at the party’s presidential campaign office in Abuja, the Director of Media and Information, Garba Shehu, said the Buhari campaign was aware of a grand plan by the presidency to broadcast an interview granted by Lamido on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) network stations where he would attempt to disparage Buhari and his presidential bid.
“We just got information that all FRCN stations have been directed to link up for a live interview to be granted by Lamido of Jigawa State about now. The contents of the interview as agreed with Vice-President Namadi Sambo and President Jonathan are to essentially damage Buhari’s image,” he said.
Shehu said the main thrust of the smear campaign suggests that Buhari would be a figurehead while his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will be the de facto president.
According to the campaign spokesman, Lamido in the interview would be citing examples of Buhari’s leadership style, such as his days with the late Tunde Idiagbon and Salihijo of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
Shehu said: “This situation he will claim is unfair to the North as the South-west will be indirectly getting another term of office as president in addition to the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s years, so northerners should not be deceived into voting for APC.
“A few things we will like to point out to Lamido’s audience are that: Lamido had been pressured to do the interview because of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pressure on his sons’ corruption charges.
“Lamido has never worked near or with Buhari to know his leadership style. Those working closely with him in the APC know otherwise. When did Lamido become a spokesman for the North? What did he and other Jonathan apologists negotiate for the North as the South-west has been doing with Jonathan in the last two weeks?
“Of the millions of the US dollars that Jonathan has allegedly been sharing to traditional and religious leaders in the South-west, how much of it did Lamido negotiate and obtain on behalf of the northern traditional and religious leaders? As a self-appointed northern interest spokesman, what is his response to the pejorative references made by Mrs. Patience Jonathan about northerners?”
Meanwhile, the APC in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused the Jonathan administration of aligning with some ethnic militia to scuttle the forthcoming elections.
The party said the protests by MASSOB last week seeking the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, was orchestrated by the administration as part of its continuing efforts to sabotage the elections.
It alleged the next group that has been mobilised to protest againsts Jega and the use of card reader is the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), which is also a beneficiary of the N9 billion payout ostensibly for pipeline protection, but in reality to prepare the ethnic militias for their reprehensible role in scuttling the elections.
APC said more ethnic militias are to be enlisted by the Jonathan administration to continue the protest against Jega and the card reader, in order to give the impression that Nigerians want Jega sacked and are also against the use of card reader.
The party expressed sadness that a president who inherited a united country has done everything can to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines, including patronising ethnic militias who serve no other purpose than to champion sectional interests at the expense of national unity.
It wondered why President Jonathan should pay N9 billion to a handful of people at a time of great economic downturn and falling naira, as well as in a situation in which many states cannot even afford to pay their workers because of dwindling allocation from the Federation Account.
‘’A profligate government that has been bribing people with dollars and ferrying huge funds around practically to buy votes has outdone itself by paying out all of N9billion to a few Nigerians, with less than three weeks to the elections.
Shortly after the payment, some self-serving groups started organising protests that, for all intents and purposes, are being orchestrated to scuttle the polls.
This is a shameful show by the federal government,’’ APC said.
In a swift reaction, the PDP presidential campaign organisation described as false, the allegation that the President Jonathan administration is sponsoring ethnic militias to disrupt the scheduled March 28 and April 11 elections.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign organisation , Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who reacted in Abuja yesterday, also justified the employment and compensation given to families of the victims of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy, saying the APC’s criticism of the gesture was unfortunate.
According to him, “Once again, Lai Mohammed has indulged in lies on behalf of his lying party, the APC. It is not true that the PDP or the federal government is sponsoring ethnic militias. It is also not true that N9 billion has been allocated for that purpose.
“It is rather the APC that has consistently supported and sponsored the Boko Haram both in substance and in their utterances over the last few years. This recourse to telling a lie every day by the opposition party will not in any way assist them in achieving their objectives.
“We will remain focused on the issues. We will talk about their weaknesses and we will also talk about the achievements of President Jonathan on why it is important that he is re-elected to power on March 28. That is our focus.
“We have said it before and we will say it again: these people have become prisoners of their own delusions; they have become victims of their own hallucinations and fantasies. They have become paranoid such that they are sleeping and hiding under their beds. They are running from their own shadows and what we are witnessing is simply the judgment of God on them. They have lost their peace. They are running when nobody is chasing them and that is why they are saying these things.
“It is really is a pity that it has degenerated to this point. But the fact of the matter is that no serious-minded persons will take them seriously when they talk like this.”
On the APC claim that the PDP and the federal government were trying to garner cheap political profit from the calamity that befell some young Nigerians with the employment and compensations to the families of the affected victims of the NIS employment tragedy, Fani-Kayode said: “It is not the PDP that feeds off the blood of other individuals; it is not the PDP that is a party of ritualists and cultists; it is not the PDP that encourages and supports terrorist
organisations that have slaughtered about 35,000 people over the last three years.
“It was the APC that did that when Lai Mohammed said it was unconstitutional and unjust for the federal government to proscribe Boko Haram. We do not feed off calamity; they are the ones who do that and they consistently do that and they will continue to do that and that is why we are saying they are not fit to take power in this country.
“The president’s gesture concerning the victims of the calamity that took place last year when all those young people were killed was a noble gesture and was simply an acknowledgment of the fact that these people died under very, very sad circumstances.
“It was simply an attempt to alleviate the suffering and pain of the families of those that were killed and no right-thinking person will read any other meaning to that.
“It was a reflection of the compassion and the inherent goodness that reside in the president’s heart and I think every patriotic and right-thinking Nigerian should commend him for that and not talk about feeding off people’s calamity. We are not cultists in the PDP. It is the APC that is filled with cultists and ritualists.”
Source: Thisday
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