Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned the PDP-led federal government against the dangerous tactics of polarizing the country along fault lines as a means of diverting the attention of Nigerians from its ineptitude and apathetic posture to corruption and insecurity.
Reacting to a report in a weekly paper, alleging that a former Russian spy has linked the Action Progressive Congress (APC) to terrorists and extremists, Atiku said the sponsored allegations by the PDP administration would not help the country, adding that no responsible government should seek to create division, suspicion and animosity among its citizens by linking the opposition leaders with terrorist activities or accusing them of harbouring extremists.
He said: “The PDP has officially and publicly through its National Publicity Secretary, labelled APC the “Islamic Brotherhood Party of Nigeria” and the “Janjaweed Party.”
He noted that the nomenclatures were borrowed from abroad and did not in any way or form exist in Nigeria.
Atiku stressed that the latest publication about a so-called former Russian spy is a continuation of the PDP campaign of calumny against the opposition party and its leaders in order to divert attention from the epic failures of the ruling party to deliver the goods. He noted with concern the tactics of the PDP administration to drive a wedge between the people by using a religious divide-and-rule strategy to get a re-election in 2015, saying the greatest challenges facing Nigeria are insecurity, joblessness, hopelessness, hunger, unemployment, disease, fear of the future and poverty.
According to him: “The APC is a party for all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious, ethnic or regional identities. Let no one get confused. The APC is the party to stop the looting of the treasury. We will thoroughly investigate and uncover whatever is missing of the alleged 50 billion dollars stolen from the sale of crude oil.
We are going to stop the government-backed theft of crude oil which swings between the daily averages of 100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day. “APC is the party to create jobs and end joblessness. These problems affect all ordinary Nigerians, regardless of their religion or ethnicity or section of the country they come from,” Atiku declared.
He noted that the PDP tactics of divide and rule is a reflection of desperation because the citizens are openly clamouring for change.
Dismissing the allegations of harbouring extremists by the opposition as utter rubbish and sheer fabrication, Atiku said the PDP administration should attend to serious national problems crying for attention.
He expressed surprise that a PDP administration that has a moral burden of accounting for billions of dollars of national revenues mysteriously missing should divert public attention by seeking refuge in the pastime of accusing the opposition leaders of harbouring extremists or sponsoring terrorism.
