The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declared
yesterday that the sudden interest of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in the restructuring
of the country is another ploy to deceive
Nigerians and divert attention from critical issues
of bad governance.
The opposition party wondered why the APC
which refused to participate in the 2014 national
conference “convened partly to achieve key
elements of restructuring” could wake up now to
lay claim to being a proponent of the idea.
PDP’s position which was contained in a
statement issued by its spokesman, Dayo
Adeyeye, was in response to an earlier statement
in which the ruling APC accused the PDP of not
having genuine interest in restructuring.
The statement by the PDP, signed by Adeyeye,
reads in parts: “We have read with amusement
the statement credited to the National Publicity
Secretary of the APC, Mr. Bolaji Ojo-Abdullahi, in
which he said that PDP had never been and was
not interested in restructuring.
“This sudden interest of the APC in restructuring
after several months of denial by its Chairman,
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Minister of
Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, some
governors elected on the platform of the party
and other senior officials” of the APC’s promise
of “restructuring in its manifesto is the latest in a
series of deceitful ploys designed and being
implemented by the ruling party to hoodwink
Nigerians ahead of the 2019 general elections.”
According to PDP, “the APC has nothing more to
offer Nigeria and Nigerians. The party only
resorts to unbridled propaganda as a ploy to
deceive Nigerians and distract them from the
topical issues upon which they are required to
assess APC’s performance in office.”
The opposition PDP urged Nigerians not to take
the APC for its word. “It is a party that was built
and is still being sustained by propaganda.
Making empty promises is their stock in trade. It
is a do-nothing party that believes in nothing.
“Indeed, our party’s commitment to constantly
seeking solutions to the challenges confronting
the nation caused us to amend our constitution
to include the equitable devolution
(decentralization) of power for greater
functionality, national integration and rapid
economic and social reconstruction, amongst
other things. Examples can be found in Preamble
2(b) and (e), Section 7(b) and (f), and many
more provisions of our Party Constitution,” he
said.
Adeyeye said: “It is against the backdrop of our
party’s commitment to restructuring the system
of socio-political governance in Nigeria for better
functionality and efficiency that the
administration of former President Goodluck
Jonathan summoned a national conference to
recommend amendments to the Nigerian
constitution. This conference submitted a report
with several proposed amendments to the
constitution which the APC-led Federal
Government has refused to implement more than
2 years later.