After a careful examination of the trend and character of the spate of
insurgencyand sectarian violence in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP has
submitted that these acts of terrorism were being sponsored by unpatriotic
elementswhose aim is to discredit the person, office and administration of President
Goodluck Jonathan.
The party said the tactics is to distract and detract the President,
constrain thesuccessful delivery of his transformation programme so as to portray him as
non-performing and finally ridicule his score card when time reckons.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa
Metuh,Tuesday, said it was beyond conjecture that the Nigerian version of
terrorism is theproduct of a narrow political persuasion that defies logic and reason.
“We accept the reality of terrorism as a global phenomenon, however, the
peculiartrend of the Nigerian version which subsists on a welter of nebulous
demands andmasked identities, hacking down innocent Nigerians -women, children and
the elderlyin an awful scorch earth fashion, and in an obstinate ridicule ofdialogue, defies
all reason and logic and only summarizes a well considered agenda of national
destabilization for a purely selfish political cause. We pointedly finger the
opposition.”
“We recall statements by some politicians, vowing to make the country
ungovernablefor President Jonathan on the eve of the 2011 general elections, and
thereforeadjure Nigerians to rise against this brute ideology of violence from
which a tinyclique of the political class intends to benefit ultimately. It is the
climax of wickedness only heard of the Lucifer in the distant bosom of hell fire.”
The statement further declared that it was clear that President Jonathan
was being
persecuted for no other reason than being a Nigerian from the minority,
arguing that
no leader in the history of the country had faced the height of
persecution that the
President has been subjected to since he assumed office.
“Ironically, this is in spite of his humility and his fidelity to the
orthodoxy ofall democratic norms and values. This is in spite of his proven commitment
to the
unity and progress of every party of Nigeria irrespective of tribe and
religion.
Ironically, this is in spite of his proven competence and record delivery
of his
electoral promises.”
The PDP therefore commended the president for not only effectively
containing the insurgency but beating down distractions and detractions to post
unprecedented landmark achievements in all sectors of the economy in the last two and
half years he has been at the helm of affairs.
The party listed some landmark achievements to include the revolutionary excels in
the works sector with the dualization and rehabilitation of major trunk
roads across the country in addition to the repair of Third Mainland bridge and the
commencement of the works on the Second Niger Bridge. The resuscitation
of the inland waterways and the railway system which have been abandoned for
years and the
establishment of Almajiri education system and nine new federal
universities across
the country.
Others according to the party include the completion and commissioning of
key power stations across the country, the new automobile policy, the revolution in the
housing sector with establishment of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance
Company (NMRC), the first of its kind in the country, which is tailored to deliver 75,000
houses every year for Nigerians in addition to a million direct and indirect jobs
as wellas the Agricultural Transformation Agenda through which six million
farmers have received inputs in a programme that targets an increase in domestic food
production by an additional 20 million tonnes and creating 3.5 million jobs before
the end of 2015.
This is in addition to the investments in job creation through the YouWin and
SURE-P projects as well as the widening of the ambit of the PDP ideology of
transferring wealth from public institutions to the private sector wherein
hardworking private individuals are now thriving in manufacturing, trade,
commerce and other critical sectors of the economyâ€, the party said.
It therefore called on all well meaning Nigerians to resist those behind the
sectarian violence and insurgency in the country and shore up support for the
President in his efforts to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.