The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said that the All Progressives Congress party, APC, and its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, are clever by half in what it termed an attempt by APC to deceive Nigerians into believing that it supports restructuring.
PDP also accused APC of adulterating its manifesto to present itself as being a co-driver of the restructuring mantra when the party had initially stood against restructuring.
In a statement signed by Adm. Chinwe I. Nnorom , PDP’s Head of Publicity Division on behalf of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, it said APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Abdullahi confirmed in his latest report what PDP and Nigerians have known APC for which, according to it, is lies and deceit.
The statement read thus:
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is once again constrained to react to a statement made by the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, in another failed attempt with the mischief his party is known for – manipulation – against Nigerians (this time) into believing that the APC is interested in ‘restructuring’.
“Nigerians will recall that in our statement, we were categorical that the leaders of the APC had denied promising restructuring at different times but suddenly jumped at it as “the Latest in a series of deceitful ploys designed and being implemented by the party to hoodwink Nigerians ahead of the 2019 General Elections”.
“We were correct! Mr. Bolaji confirmed our hint of their ploy on Paragraph 4 of his statement thus, ‘We understand that PDP needs desperately to return to reckoning; and realizing that restructuring is the new political currency in Nigeria, it is latching on…’
Indeed, ‘restructuring’ is the APC’s ‘…new political currency in Nigeria,…’ to further delude and buy the votes of unsuspecting Nigerians ahead of the 2019 General Elections given that its original “Change” mantra has failed woefully.
“We wish to emphasize that the APC’s response was another misadventure and inglorious efforts to further misinform Nigerians especially by just quoting a part of the sections of the PDP Constitution that was included in our statement – Preamble 2(b), which of course resonates with the PDP’s endeavour towards economic and socio-political growths; and he referred to it as our misunderstanding of the Word – Restructuring.
“Let Mr. Bolaji recall that we also quoted other sections such as Preamble 2(e) which states, “to devolve powers equitably between the Federal, State and Local Governments in the spirit of federalism”; and 7(2b) which states that, “The Party shall strive to promote federalism and an equitable revenue sharing formula” PDP Constitution (As Amended in 2012).
“Mr. Bolaji should be informed that we did justice in our statement by explaining what the Word “Restructuring” means especially in Nigeria context of governance. But no, he has to argue and sadly after rolling around in his text, he came on the same page with us by quoting the APC Manifesto – Section 3(1) – on their so called restructuring thus, “We will devolve more revenues and powers,…” That means, both parties are referring to Nigeria restructuring in the Context of ‘devolution (decentralization)’ of power for equity and functional federalism.
“In the light of the above, we make bold to state that Mr. Bolaji is clever by half! It is therefore important at this point to state that personalities like Bolaji Abdullahi’s disrespect to organization’s norms and ideology contributed largely to the Delayed Restructuring of the Country since 1999, when he and most of his APC leaders were at the Driving Seat of the then Ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
“This character trait of lack of comprehension of ideas is equally being exhibited currently in the APC. After all, the Party leaders bluntly denied promising Nigerians restructuring only to re-track when the Euphoria on restructuring refused to wane.
“While we don’t want to further dignify the APC Spokesman’s ignorance and lack of comprehension on the matter under review, we wish to however inform him and unsuspecting members of the public that the PDP Constitution and Manifesto have ample provisions for effective restructuring of Nigeria. So, the PDP believes in restructuring!
“It is also important to remind the APC’s Spokesman and his Party, the APC, that all the Provisions of the PDP Constitution (As Amended in 2012) existed before the Emergence of his new Party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the Year 2013. It is therefore our understanding that the Manifesto of the APC that has a resemblance of ‘restructuring’ in it was coined from the PDP’s Plans of Action. No wonder the APC did not quite understand what was copied from the PDP Constitution and Manifesto, hence their initial denial on the Issue and later total display of ignorance.
“For the umpteenth time, we wish to re-iterate that the PDP is not only interested in functional devolution and equitable distribution of powers between the Federal, States and Local Government levels in the Country but we are equally working hard with all our elected representatives across the Country to restructure Nigeria for our common good.
“Finally, let the APC know that Nigerians cannot be deceived again with their antics. A Party that cannot stand on its promises and accept responsibilities to deliver dividends of democracy to the people as it promised cannot be entrusted with the Governance of this Country in future.”