By Emma Ogbuehi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday called out the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue of terrorism.
The main opposition party alleged that the refusal by the Buhari Presidency to expose names of those allegedly sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria was an indication that the APC government has been providing official cover for terrorists and bandits pillaging the nation.
The PDP said its position was predicated on the declaration of the Buhari Presidency that it was not interested in making public the names of six Nigerians reportedly sent to the Federal Government by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said APC’s reluctance vindicates its position of government’s complicity in the mayhem.
“The PDP holds that the decision of the APC-led government to cover the identity of sponsors of mindless mass killings, maiming, rapping, kidnapping of our compatriots as well as the endless violent marauding of our communities under the APC watch validates our stand that such individuals have connections with the APC,” the statement read.
“This unpatriotic stance by the Buhari Presidency raises serious national anxieties of high-level complicity in the administration and further explains the reported compromising of our security system in the escalated killings and acts of terrorism in our country in the last six years under the APC.
“Nigerians can see why the APC-led administration has failed to take decisive steps to tackle terrorism, why it prefers to negotiate with terrorists and even makes case for them, instead apprehending and prosecuting them, as witnessed in the beheading of rice farmers in Borno State.
“The PDP had always alerted of a connection between the APC and terrorists ravaging various parts of our nation and how the APC, as a party, had always failed to forcefully condemn acts of terrorism in our country.”
The main opposition party said Nigerians can recall how the APC vehemently defended and still habours the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, a self-confessed terrorism apologist, despite national outcry and demand
for his sack.
The party said the APC has also failed to account for the bandits, thugs and hoodlums it allegedly imported from neighboring countries to unleash violence on Nigerians and muscle the 2019 elections.
“If the APC and its administration have nothing to cover, our party challenges them to immediately publish the names of the sponsors of terrorism given to it by the UAE, instead of this vexatious desperation to provide official cover for them,” the statement concluded.
