ACN behind insurgency, says PDP

 The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) has said that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was behind the insurgency threatening the peace of the country. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, the PDP based its declaration on the opposition party’s condemnation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of state of emergency in Adamwa, Borno and Yobe states on Tuesday.

The ACN has faulted the process as it submitted that the Federal Government did not seek the endorsement of the National Assembly as stipulated in the amended 1999 Constitution. But Metuh in the statement disclosed that the opposition party was against emergency rule as he claimed the “ACN and its cohorts in the opposition are behind insurgents and therefore, must subvert every measure taken by government to tackle escalating insurgency.”

Metuh also claimed that the ACN had been exploiting the escalating crisis to undermine the PDP-led Federal Government. “We recall that the opposition boasted recently that they would end the Boko Haram scourge within two months of their presidency. There is no smoke without fire”, he said. Metuh noted that the opposition sees the escalating terror as a short-cut to power. “Recall also that the statements of the leaders of the opposition at the eve 2011 presidential election gave birth to violence which has snowballed today into terrorism.

We therefore, call on the leaders of the opposition to remove the mask on their faces and publicly declare their stand,” he said. The PDP admonished the ACN to exercise restraint in its criticisms. “May we also educate the ACN that a just and equitable society cannot be achieved overnight in the same manner, good governance is not an already- made commodity waiting on the counter. We wish to emphasize that in over a decade, the PDP has not only rebuilt the decayed fabrics of the nation, but has taken recognizable and commendable steps in the direction of good governance.

We shall remain committed to that despite distractions. “What is new in what the President has done if we must again tell the ACN, is that President Jonathan is a core democrat, who appreciates the core values of democracy and who believes firmly that democracy must be practised in Nigeria in its undiluted form”, Metuh noted.

source: the sun