APC to PDP: We can forgive, but we will not forget your atrocities

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed surprise over what it called the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) new found proclivity for spewing falsehood in the name of opposition rhetoric and politics.

“Whatever is left of PDP, after years of suicidal gluttony, can only whine about imaginary persecution while wilfully ignoring the efforts being made to literally clear the mess they created and build a new Nigeria in line with the change agenda promised the electorate,” the APC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.

Abdullahi was reacting to a recent statement credited to the PDP spokesperson in which the APC was accused of among others; corruption, sectionalism and opposition clampdown, in the leadup to the 2019 elections.

He said the APC had not inherited ‘undemocratic practice’ in its governance style both in its internal politics and the country’s administration, under President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said that it was a ‘widely-known fact’ that suppressing the opposition was the stock in trade of the PDP during its defunct 16-year rule.

Abdullahi said the past PDP administrations used state apparatus to harass opposition figures as seen in the attack on the APC data centre, blockade of the air and road routes to prevent movement of then opposition leaders in the leadup to the 2015 elections, among other clampdowns.

“The PDP without an iota of proof, rather spewing laughable conspiracies accuses the APC-led administration of ‘barefaced looting’. Elections are around the corner and Nigerians are not gullible. They see through the PDP’s diversionary antics aimed at deflecting attention from the wanton culture of impunity and corruption it instituted when it held sway.

“Do we forget the PDP administration’s unwillingness to operate the now implemented Treasury Single Account (TSA) which has greatly plugged government revenue leakages? Do we forget the voodoo economics, reckless fiscal policies and shocking pillage of the public treasury perpetuated during past PDP administrations? 

“Do we forget confessions by the immediate-past finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy, reporting “zero political will to save” under the immediate-past administration. Do we forget the $2.2 billion anti-insurgency funds fraudulently diverted and disbursed by the erstwhile National Security Adviser to political associates of the immediate-past President and PDP members, while our military personnel on the frontlines were ill-equipped and demoralized, resulting in many avoidable deaths and the maiming of our gallant men in uniform?

“PDP's narrative is anchored on the belief that if they continue to throw these wild allegations around, somehow Nigerians will forget what they truly represent and the atrocities that they have committed against the country. Alas, Nigerians are wiser now and our memories are longer. We can forgive, but we will not forget.

“Change is perhaps the most difficult idea to implement in our societies, but sometimes, it becomes necessary or even inevitable, just as Nigeria found itself in 2015 because of PDP misrule,” the statement further read. 

The party, which urged Nigerians to remain steadfast, promised to propel the country on the path of growth in all facets.