APC desperately wooing our govs –PDP

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party said it was aware that the All Progressives Congress was  wooing and coaxing some of its governors.

In its  reaction  to the Tuesday meeting by some APC leaders in Sokoto, the PDP stated that  by  wooing and coaxing  its governors,   the APC had shown it lacked true followership.

Four   aggrieved PDP governors – Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto);   Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); and  Sule Lamido (Jigawa), were present at the meeting which  was  attended by  a former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari  and an ex-Lagos  State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

 Three other   aggrieved governors of the PDP, Aliyu Babangida (Niger); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara)  were  however absent.

 The APC  leadership  was said to have used the Tuesday meeting to discuss the possibility of the aggrieved governors  defecting to the APC.

But the PDP, in a statement on Thursday by its  National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said it was ironical that the APC  was “celebrating mere discussions” with three or four” of its governors.

The statement said that for “desperately coaxing PDP governors,” the “hypocritical party” had shown that it lacked “genuine ideology and principles.”

The statement added, “By wooing PDP governors, the APC has also confirmed that it lacked true followership and electable materials at all levels, hence its desperate bid to poach from the PDP.”

The statement  added that the APC had also   shown that it was nothing but “a party of hypocrites driven by desperate and blind quest for power and not by any ideology geared towards serving the interest of the people.”

 Expressing optimism  that the bid to poach  its governors and other members would not yield any meaningful result, the PDP  said “ the  normal practice  is  for politically- informed persons to move  away from parochial parties such as the APC to a national party with robust ideology and agenda such as the PDP and not vice- versa.”

 It  said by   wooing  its  members,  the APC  had shown its height of hypocrisy and ultimately confirming to Nigerians that it had nothing to offer.

 The ruling party stated that if  the APC  did  not  lack   genuine followership and electable materials,  it would not be desperate to poach its members.

 “Why would it celebrate and dramatise mere discussions with three or four  of our aggrieved governors?,” it  asked in the statement.

 The  PDP  however stated that it was not perturbed by the actions of the opposition party  because    “no genuine member   will opt for the APC,” which it  described as a party given to religious bigotry, promotion of violence and division  among Nigerians.

 While appealing to its members not to join the APC, the PDP  further alleged that the opposition party  had  continued to fan the embers of religious fanatism, ethnicism, dissensions and general social intolerance among Nigerians.

But  the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji  Lai Mohammed,  said the PDP would soon realise that its supporters were no longer there.

 Mohammed, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said  the leadership of the APC had just met Kwankwaso and that with the way they were received, it was almost sure that PDP was dead in the state.

 He said, “We  met the governor of Kano State and I can tell you that we would be meeting governors of Jigawa and Adamawa states and other states very soon.

“With the crowd that received us, the PDP is just bellyaching and I can tell you that we have taken over their territory.”

Mohammed appealed to Nigerians to remain calm in the face of their suffering, saying it  would soon be over.

Punch