The Federal Government has warned the Peoples Democratic Party not to derail the country’s democracy through its brand of opposition politics.
The FG claimed the opposition party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were “desperate” for power, as exemplified in what the government called “unpatriotic” utterances lately.
Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, gave the government’s position while speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
Mohammed claimed Atiku and his party were doing everything possible to frustrate the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The minister said, “The Federal Government has strongly decried the increasingly unpatriotic and desperate opposition politics being played by the PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, warning that such dead-end opposition could be toxic for the nation’s democracy, if left unchecked.
“Never in the history of politics in Nigeria has an opposition party and its presidential candidate exhibited the kind of desperate tactics being deployed by the duo, especially since Buhari overwhelmingly defeated Atiku to win the 2019 presidential election.
“Either by themselves or via their proxies, the PDP and its presidential candidate are doing everything possible to sabotage the Buhari administration, generally overheat the polity and make Nigeria seemingly ungovernable, especially through their public utterances and their poorly-thought-out press releases before and after the 2019 general elections. Unless they quickly retrace their steps, they may, sooner than later, over-reach themselves.
“For those who may be quick to accuse the government of crying wolf, the pre-election statement credited to the former Vice-President, that unless Nigerians voted out the APC administration, killings by herdsmen would continue and ultimately spark a series of ethno-religious crises that would be irreversible, was looking more like a Freudian slip than anything else.”
The FG also said the PDP had been attacking the judiciary for no reason other than that the latter was doing its job of hearing the election petitions.
Mohammed added, “Also, in recent times, the PDP has taken its desperation to a new low by attacking the judiciary, an action many see as indicating a reversal of the party’s hitherto self-assured stance that it has a solid case against the President’s election. And either by coincidence or orchestration, a faceless group emerges from nowhere calling for an overthrow of a democratically-elected government, a totally egregious act of treason.
“It beggars belief that a candidate who prides himself as a democrat can so allow desperation to becloud his sense of propriety to such an extent that he will be associating with anti-democratic forces or making inflammatory statements.”
But responding to the FG’s claim, Atiku alleged that Buhari is plotting against him.
In a statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, the ex-Vice-President said, “It is not surprising that such a despicable lie is emanating from Lai Mohammed, President Buhari’s aptly named Minister of Information.
“Lai Mohammed is so associated with lies that even Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday, May 13, 2019 that ‘People like Lai Mohammed, Abba Kyari, Adamu Adamu are usually very well-behaved during the Ramadan. But I’m not even sure that that is true anymore.’
“When we have a situation where even those who employed him know that Lai Mohammed is a liar, who will even lie during the holy month of Ramadan, then why should Nigerians be surprised at this latest lie?
“Lai Mohammed is only being too clever by half when he says ‘it beggars belief that a candidate who prides himself as a democrat can so allow desperation to becloud his sense of propriety to such an extent that he will be associating with anti-democratic forces or making inflammatory statements.’”
Also, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a reaction to Mohammed’s press conference, the PDP told the ruling All Progressives Congress government to tackle the problems confronting the country instead of trying to shift blame.
The statement read, “The attention of the PDP has been drawn to a press conference by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in which he, once again, veered off issues of governance and dwelt on hauling insults, misplaced accusations and threats against our party and our presidential candidate.”
PUNCH
