‘If a party can’t rule and can’t be in opposition, what else can it do?’, Lai calls for PDP’s deregistration

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has suggested that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be deregistered as a political party for allegedly failing as a ruling and opposition party.

He also said that the PDP may be asked to explain the abduction of the Dapchi schoolgirls recently released by Boko Haram insurgents.

The PDP had accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of stage-managing the abduction and release of the Dapchi girls to score cheap political points.

But speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Sunday, Mohammed lambasted the PDP for accusing the APC of being behind the abduction and release of the girls.

He said, “You are not unaware of the reaction of the naysayers – the main opposition PDP in particular – to the release of the Dapchi girls. What called for non-partisan celebrations was rather thoughtlessly turned into politics, bad, despicable politics that has no place in any democracy. At times of national tragedies, countries unite. This is the norm everywhere.

“Let me encapsulate my reaction to the disgraceful and insensitive politics, that the PDP has been playing with the Dapchi girls, by quoting the statement of the President when he received the Dapchi girls last Friday.

“‘May I also warn against those elements who have chosen to make political fortune of our citizens’ misfortune. Government would not tolerate any attempt by any person or group to trivialize or politicize security issues for politically motivated ends. Accordingly, security agencies would not hesitate to decisively deal with such unscrupulous characters.” Those are very clear words that need no elaboration.

“The PDP and its co-travelers do not understand that terrorism is a global problem. A terror attack on any country is an attack on all countries. The UN was among the first international organizations to condemn the abduction of the Dapchi girls and also among the first to welcome their release.

“Perhaps we should ask the PDP what indeed the party knows about the abduction of the Dapchi girls, going by its statement that their abduction and release were stage-managed. The party made itself a laughing stock within and outside Nigeria with that statement.

“Don’t they know that our international friends are involved in the process that led to the release of the girls? Indeed, there should be a new criterion for withdrawing the registration of a party like the PDP which has failed both as a ruling and an opposition party! If a party cannot rule and cannot be in opposition, what else can it do?”

Mohammed explained that “a total of 111 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary and Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi on 19 February 2018. That means one student was not captured on the list of 110 abducted students that was compiled by the school, on the basis of which the Federal Government gave the number of abducted schoolgirls as 110.”

He added that two other persons were also kidnapped that were not students of the college. “They include a primary school boy who came to the school to sell pure water and another primary school girl. That brings the total number of abducted persons on that day to 113.

Read also: 2019: Arewa, NEF, others pass vote of no confidence on Buhari, northern politicians

“So far, a total of 107 persons, comprising 105 Dapchi schoolgirls and the two non-students, have been released by the insurgents.

“Six Dapchi schoolgirls are yet unaccounted for. All efforts will be made to secure their release,” he said.

The minister reiterated that the Federal Government neither paid ransom nor swapped any Boko Haram member to secure the release of the girls.

“This is a fact, irrespective of how a section of the press has tried to spin the story. The insurgents brought the girls back to the location of the kidnapping themselves as an apparent gesture of goodwill, following relentless efforts by the government to find long-lasting solutions to the conflict.”

The minister thanked all Nigerians for their support and prayers and for their belief in the ability of Buhari’s government to secure an early release of the girls.

“We will continue with the ongoing efforts to account for the remaining six Dapchi girls, and indeed to bring back our remaining Chibok girls,” he added.

Reacting, the PDP said that the APC and its Federal Government have come to their wit’s end and now have no other option than sit by and watch Nigerians collectively return PDP to power come 2019.

In a statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP accused the ruling party of making concerted efforts to strangulate the main opposition.

PDP’s statement read, “We want to alert all Nigerians of a clandestine plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government to strangulate the main opposition party and plot the way for the self-succession plan of their candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Our party has been following all the schemes and shenanigans of the APC as 2019 general elections draw nearer.

“The main plank of the plot is to ensure that President Buhari runs as a sole candidate in 2019. To achieve this grand plan, they must work to exterminate all known and perceived political opposition platforms in our country.

“Is it not strange that a party who, in its almost five years of existence, cannot constitute a Board of Trustees (BoT) in line with the provisions of its own constitution will be asking INEC to withdraw the certificate of a party whose all organs are intact and effectively functioning?

“Is it not also laughable that a party, who cannot hold even a non-elective convention, will be calling for the withdrawal of PDP’s certificate? It is imperative to tell Alhaji Lai Mohammed and his cohorts in the APC that any masquerade that dances first will eventually have to watch the dance steps of others from the stand.

“It is clear now that the APC and its Federal Government have come to their wits end. All they need to do now is to sit by and watch Nigerians collectively return the PDP to powers and by so doing restore the nation to the path of unity, national cohesion and economic prosperity come 2019.”

In another statement earlier released on Sunday also through its spokesman, the PDP rejected as undemocratic and completely unacceptable, President Buhari’s comment that security agencies will deal decisively with any persons or group that dares to criticize the handling of security under his administration.

“The PDP, as a party, after a thorough review of all issues and the fact that nobody, apart from the president himself, politicized the Dapchi issue when he boasted that his response time was faster than that of former President Goodluck Jonathan, hold that President Buhari’s pronouncement on alleged politicization of security issues is targeted at emasculating opposition and those with contrary opinions to the views of the APC interests.

The President’s statement completely betrays a dangerous political intolerance and utter disdain for the rule of law and constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and opinion of citizens in a democracy. PDP is constrained to remind President Buhari that our nation is no longer under the rule of military decrees and tribunals where security agents “deal(t) decisively” with citizens for holding opinions.”

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

 

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now