Banner Online News

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a swipe at the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over what it described a efforts to justify President Muhammadu Buhari’s neglect of Nigerian troops and the killing of more than 100 soldiers by insurgents.

The PDP made this known in a statement signed today, Tuesday, November 27, 2018 by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, who described the development as abhorrent, reprehensible and a slap on the sensibility of Nigerians.

The full text of the PDP statement reads:

PDP Berates APC As Wicked For Attempting To Justify Buhari’s Insensitivity to Killing of Soldiers, Diversion of Military Funds

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describes the effort by the APC to justify President Muhammadu Buhari’s neglect of our fighting troops, leading to the killing of over 100 soldiers by insurgents,
as abhorrent, reprehensible and a slap on the sensibility of Nigerians.
The PDP said by this, the APC, as a party, has fully demonstrated that it is a dysfunctional organisation which attaches no value to the lives of our soldiers or other Nigerians, but more interested in seeing funeral ceremonies and floating over the graves of its victims.
Why would the APC attempt to wave off revelations, which are already in the public domain, that officials of the Buhari Presidency are diverting funds meant for military equipment and welfare of our soldiers to finance Mr. president’s re-election campaign.
If the APC were not jittery over revelations that it is a core beneficiary of this evil racket, why is it rushing to defend the Minister of Defence on findings that he diverted military funds to produce campaign materials for the APC including an electronic momento, with APC logo boldly inscribed on them?
The APC, in its hallucination, forgot that Nigerians already know that the neglect of the Buhari Presidency led to the killing of our soldiers and that the President and the APC had remained unconcerned and only started shedding crocodile tears after a public outcry on the killing and their ominous silence.
We challenge the APC to explain to Nigerians why it took President Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief, a whole week to express ‘shock’ over the killing of over 100 of our soldiers?
Does that not portray our President as a commander who has abandoned his troops and cares less of happenings in the front?
What has the APC to say to the fact that the Buhari Presidency failed to act on the threats by insurgents to attack the military base days before the deadly invasion and killing of our soldiers?
What has APC to say to the fact that at the time our soldiers were being attacked by insurgents, our Service Chiefs were busy participating in President Buhari’s re-election campaign rally and launch of Next Level mantra, stolen from a foreign institute?
What has the APC to say to the fact that instead of being at the forefront of investigations, our Minister of Defence was busy using military funds to produce campaign souvenirs for President Buhari and the APC?
It is therefore an unpardonable assault on the sensibiltity of Nigerians for the APC to, in anyway, attempt to justify President Buhari’s negligence and inaction toward the welfare of our soldiers as well as the diversion of military fund for Mr. President’s re-election campaign at the expense of the lives of Nigerians.
If the APC is not complicit in this heinous crime against our nation, we challenge it to join the PDP in demanding for a National Assembly inquest into the killing and the handling of anti-insurgency funds under President Buhari, instead of this resort to wicked hypocritical posturing.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
Share

In a related development, the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation has accused President Buhari and APC of displaying bad manners even as it decries their insensitivity to the plight of Nigeria’s fallen troops.
Excerpts from the campaign organisation’s statement reads:
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the All Progressives Congress casting aspersions on Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party on the day of his birthday and turbaning as Waziri Adamawa.
“Ironically, the APC that is now accusing Atiku Abubakar, has not seen fit to pay tribute to these gallant men who gave their lives in order to secure the lives of others.
“As a party, they have not issued even one statement condoling with the slain or their families, neither have they offered any tangible support to the families of these fallen heroes. Yet, they are accusing the Waziri, who has shown commitment to honouring these heroes, of selfishness.
“As a matter of fact, we now know through Premium Times report, that these real Nigerian heroes were killed on November 18, 2018 which was the exact time that the candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, invited the service chiefs to attend the launch of the plagiarised #NextLevel launch at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa.
“The nation can only wonder if the Metele massacre could have been avoided if the APC and President Buhari had allowed the service chiefs to focus on their core duties, rather than on his ill fated re-election campaign.
“We at the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation commend the service chiefs for beating a hasty retreat from the event as soon as they discovered that President Buhari was trying to hoodwink them”.
According to the Campaign organization, it took Waziri Atiku Abubakar only a few hours to respond to the incident and express support, while it took the APC’s President Buhari a whole week to express “shock”. We therefore wonder who is truly ‘selfish’.
“It is left to Nigerians to compare and contrast who is a leader and who is a follower based on the conduct of these two parties.
“In any case, we would like to inform the APC of Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s call for financial support from well meaning individuals and Institutions for the survivors of the Metele massacre, and indeed for all who paid the supreme sacrifice in the frontlines for us to be safe.
“Seeing as the APC spent ₦100 million to buy front page advertorials in all the papers on that fateful day of November 18, 2018, we appeal to them to consider donating even 10% of that amount to the endowment for the families of our heroes as proposed by Atiku Abubakar.
“If they can spend ₦100 million to promote fraud, they should be able to spare at least ₦10 million to promote patriotism.”